Fall Friendships
by signaturesweet
Summary: There is alot the fall season has to offer such as Sesshomaru and Rin's first autumn spent together, but Rin never expected two new friends to enter her life and have each create drama that all leads to the dog demon she so desires to get closer to.
1. Autumn Wind

**AN: I** **really wanted to wait a while before I started another story, but I got bored so I couldn't help myself so here you go a new story to add to my continuation of stories. If any new readers to my stories they are all continuations but it is all your choice if you want to read them or not.**

**The chapters in this story won't be as long, and there won't be too much adventure because I want it to be mainly fluff with a bit of drama so here you go and enjoy! Please R&R**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.**

Red-orange leaves whispering through a simple village along with the scent of cold wind that ran up the spine of every villager. Despite the weather bringing in a cold front the men still tended to their fields to keep up with their food supply while the women and children worked to fill their homes with the smell of hot soup.

Even inside a two room hut the smell of soup was thick with the scent of boiling vegetables and homemade stock. In one room Kaede was bundled up in a thick blanket with a cup of tea while she kept a close eye on her soup.

In the other room Rin was busy learning to brew a new medicinal herb with a fire crackling not too far behind her to give her all the warmth she needed without the need for a blanket. Rin looked up from the brown papers holding all the information she needed. Her eyes went to the window in front her, and she caught sight of the scene beyond the village.

"It's so pretty," she whispered to herself as she noticed all the fall leaves dancing around the village with the cool autumn wind guiding them. The weather was getting colder and colder the closer winter came, but not so close to winter where the sun was no longer visible.

Rin was able to see the sun shining bright in the light blue colored sky. The only difference was the chilly air and the brown and red leaves falling everywhere around the forests. Rin was usually brought into the forests with the children to play their silly yet secretly fun games of falling in a pile of all those leaves. She always felt silly for she was no longer a little girl and she was the only woman in the village that participated in such games.

Must have been the kid inside her, and at times she wished she could go back to those years of endless flower picking and child like rambling of innocent nonsense. Of course she knew that would never happen, and there were good sides to growing up. People took her more seriously and she was able to develop feeling she may not have comprehended as a child; feeling that she was still sorting through now.

"I can't have my mind wander off," she said as she grabbed her bowel of powdery green liquid and began to read the instructions on the brown papers. "I have to stay focus and make this right."

She began to add powders of varies colors and mixed in other kinds of plants and roots. Rin was well educated on how to brew medicine through herbs, but there was still so much to learn that Kaede said even she, as old as she was, still hadn't mastered every medicinal potion yet.

Rin was currently working on a medicine that relieves pain in certain areas of the body. Her green liquid was to be made into a thick paste to smear on the body such as backs, legs, and even necks. One slip up and the medicine would be useless so she made sure to keep her mind on the task at hand.

She was also hoping to use some of this remedy on Kaede since her caretaker had been waking up the past couple of nights complaining of back pain, but simply told Rin not to make such a fuss over it. Rin could see she was in pain though, and that was her whole reason behind making the medicine in the first place.

She didn't want to overwork Kaede, but at the same time she didn't want to trap her up like some caged bird or as Inuyasha liked to put it "An old prune in an empty jar". Even Kagome gave her some advice on how to deal with the elderly for she mentioned of a grandfather she had back where she used to live.

They can be stubborn so it's better not to treat them like babies even if they act like it.

Rin only chuckled at the memory because right after Kagome gave her that piece of advice Shippo popped out of nowhere explaining the advice sounded just like Inuyasha, and soon after a big bruise was made on the little foxes head.

"You losing focus again Rin," she scolded to herself. She was only a few steps away from finishing the medicine, and to get Kaede out of bed Rin asked her to make her delicious hot soup. She always cooked it during the cold seasons, and it was always better than either she Sango or Kagome's ever was.

Rin could already smell the heavenly aroma from her room, and she decided to take a quick break and let the liquid settle into its pasty texture. She organized the mess she made on her low wooden desk, and once she was finished she took one last look out the window to the orange trees and distant mountains.

_I wonder how Lord Sesshomaru is doing._

It had been a good 6 or 7 days since she last saw him, and every day seemed longer than the next. Rin's eyes went from the window to the lantern sitting nicely on her wooden desk. It was still in good shape, and it always left Rin with the feeling of knowing Sesshomaru would be back since she had a feeling he was the one that left if for her when she awoke the morning after the lantern ceremony.

She woke up in her futon to find that Sesshomaru was gone, and the lantern was placed nicely on the corner of her desk. Every night she would light it to either do late night work, or to simply stare at it to remind her of the one who gave it to her in the first place.

Rin took a small sigh knowing that as much as she loved the moment they shared during the ceremony she only wanted more now. _I really need to stop falling asleep on him…. _How could she though when his fur was as soft as a cloud and as warm as the summer air.

Rin's mind began to daydream of what she could do when he came back. She thought about a nice stroll but with the cold weather, especially at night, she wasn't sure if she would enjoy it as much as she would have liked. The only other option aside from being outside would of had to have been to bring him inside.

Although, the thought of her Lord Sesshomaru in a village hut…..

She could hardly see him living in his castle much less a simple village hut. It was a very odd sight to picture and she already knew he may not approve of the idea either. Once birds are caught swimming in the sea then she will think things over.

Rin let her daydreaming and mind wandering last a little longer until she noticed a small brown leaf blowing through her window. She didn't pay too much attention to it until a good thousand more zoomed in.

"Huh?" she said as she watched in confusion on how so many leaves were able to blow in through her window. She heard small chuckles come from outside the window followed by dark brown hair so similar to hers popping its way up to her view.

The face began to reveal itself as followed and Rin smiled to the recognizable face. "Kohaku," she said in relief as she let a smile show.

"Don't you remember," he said as he walked from the window to the front door while stepping in to see his childhood friend covered in leaves. "I used to do this to you when we were kids," he said with a small laugh.

"I don't remember there to be quite this many leaves though," Rin said with a friendly laugh to match his. "But if there's one thing I do remember it was you having to be the one to clean up all these leaves."

"Don't worry I'll clean this up," he said with his shy boy smile complimented by his red cheeks. After a handful of leaves was tossed out of the window the hut was clean, and Kohaku took off his boots and sat down on the other side of the fire.

"Sure feels good in here," he said as he warmed his hands. "This armor can only keep me so warm."

"How was your journey?" Rin asked to start up a friendly conversation. "I heard from Sango that she got a letter from you awhile back. Is it true that you saved a high ranked lord from losing his castle to a hoard of demon?"

Kohaku immediately went red as he smiled and brought his hand to the back of his head. "Yeah, he didn't intend to hire me at first because he said I didn't look that strong. I was about to leave until I noticed all these demons appearing at his castle. I went straight there and took care of them all, and the lord apologized and paid me twice what was intended."

"That's what he gets for not believing in your strength," Rin pointed out which caused Kohaku to turn an even deeper shade of red over his freckled cheeks.

He began to laugh nervously as his hands clenched and unclenched at his side. "I uh I don't know what to say."

"Have you gone to see Sango yet? You know she's pregnant again."

"Yeah I head," he answered, "But to be honest I think I'd rather wait a while before I have to return to a bunch of hyper nieces and nephews along with a probably emotional sister."

Rin laughed at the truth in his words over Sango's mood swings. "That's a pregnant woman for you."

Kohaku smiled at her pretty face while she laughed. She always had a way to bring, not just him, but anybody warmth to their heart. His eyes scanned over her face to find she was just as beautiful now as when he left; of course it was only for a month. He looked to her kimono and his mouth already spoke the question his mind was thinking.

"That from Lord Sesshomaru?" he asked as Rin looked down to her beautiful yellow kimono with orange birds scattered around it. "Yes, he gave this to me not long after he came back. Isn't it beautiful," she asked and with the face she made Kohaku couldn't help but nod his head slowly.

"He also brought me that a few days ago," she said excitedly as she pointed to the lantern over on her desk. "There was a ceremony going on here all thanks to Inuyasha and Kagome. Lord Sesshomaru and I…."

Rin blushed not really wanting to go into detail of their innocent yet affectionate moment they shared together. "Well I asked him to stay and enjoy it as well."

"I see," Kohaku said trying his best to put up a happy smile despite the pain of seeing the girl he cared deeply for having affections for someone else. "Does that mean that she loves him?" he wondered. She hadn't said anything yet.

"So I take it he comes around here often?" he asked trying to further his knowledge to see how deep Rin's feeling for Sesshomaru truly ran.

"Yes, he comes by here a few times when he is not away taking care of things. He left a few days ago, but I'm sure he will return soon."

"I see, but what about you?" he asked which caused Rin to look at him questionably. "Well….I mean weren't you given a choice to go back with him for good…if you wanted." Kohaku stuttered while thinking that maybe Rin was never given that piece of information yet.

"Oh that,'' she replied with a small laugh. "Well I had plans to, yes, but then Lady Kaede hasn't been feeling her best this last month."

"Oh, right Sango wrote something like that to me in her letter. How is Lady Kaede doing now? Better I hope."

"Yes, some days are better than others, but she is fine today she is even making some nice hot soup right now. Still though I can't leave her in the condition she is in…I would feel too bad and worry too much…So Lord Sesshomaru and I made arrangements to where he will some visit every so often."

"Didn't he do that before when you were young?"

"Yes, but this time he and I get to see each other and spend some time together." Rin found herself turning red again for the obvious reasons.

"Get to see him more often huh? I bet you must be really happy."

"Yes," she answered as her blush deepened and a sweet smile formed on her pretty face. "It's so wonderful to see him again. When he first left me in the village I thought that I was never going to see him again. Then when he left to war I was always worried about him and how he was doing. I'm just…so glad he's back and I finally get to see him now, and you know what…it feels a little different."

"Different as in how?"

"Well since you saw him most when you were young you may feel what I feel when you walk up to him."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that he doesn't seem that much older to me now. His age almost resembles yours, and he is still very tall but I no longer have to strain my neck just to see his face."

"Well demons don't age like we do."Kohaku still tried his best to hold up a friendly smile. He gave Sesshomaru is utmost respect, but with his long time crush on Rin it was uncomfortable to hear her talk about someone else the way she was.

Although he could not blame her for he was always too shy to tell her how he felt and he always gave her the impression that they were nothing more than mere friends.

"I just never saw it with my own eyes before. It is as though not one thing about him is different yet I suppose it is because I have gotten older that I see him a little differently. I know it is hard to explain so I hope you understand what I'm talking about."

"I do," Kohaku said as he tried to change the subject. The more Rin talked about Sesshomaru the more it seemed that she was practically in love with him.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"Well I was going to brew some medicine and that usually takes up a lot of my time not to mention chores."

"You think there might be room in your busy schedule for me?" he asked timidly.

"Sure," Rin said with a bright smile that left his cold body feeling hot.

"R-Really?" he said with a smile on his own face as he thought about all the things they could do that day such as have a romantic picnic or a midnight stroll.

"I don't mind walking with you to Sango's," Rin then added caused a sweat drop to appear on Kohaku's face for what Rin mentioned was really not what he had in mind.

"Uh, r-right," he said as he laughed nervously. "There is some warm soup being made," Rin said as she got up on her feet. "Would like a bowl before we head out?"

Kohaku smiled at her friendly offering and accepted it with a nod to his head.

"The day is still young maybe I can try again later," he thought as he got up on his feet.

Suddenly he stopped when he heard the sounds of horses galloping. "Do you hear that?" he asked and Rin agreed for she too could hear the sounds of hoove prints, and lots of them by what she could hear.

Both she and Kohaku put on their footwear and made it to the door as Kohaku held the mat off to the side to reveal a group of humans on horses making their way to the village. Rin noticed Inuyasha was already at the bottom of the mountain ready to greet them.

Rin took a closer look to the intruders. They all wore hay cloaks to shield themselves from the bitter cold, and each also wore hay hats to keep their faces from view.

"Who are they?"

**AN: Not too long and I thought it was a good way to start off the story. I am not a Kohaku/Rin shipper, but I do believe his character is a good one to have. No love triangle because the anime gave us enough of that lol So I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and stay alert for ch 2 where Sesshomaru comes in!**

**Please leave a comment it would be greatly appreciated.**


	2. Autumn Strangers

**AN: To start off this chapter is shorter than the rest but the reason will be explained in at the end. So anyway this is the second chapter to my story and I hope you all enjoy it and R&R!**

"W-who are they?" Rin asked as she watched the mysterious intruders approach downhill to where Inuyasha stood.

"I don't know," said Kohaku while he held a hand on Rin's shoulder as to keep her from getting to far ahead of herself. "But they don't look too friendly." The young slayer took note of the weapons the intruders carried, and knew that if things got ugly Inuyasha might need some backup.

"I think I better go with Inuyasha," he said with flames of courage igniting in his brown eyes.

"Kohaku….." Rin said with her eyes full of what he could only describe as distress. "Don't worry Rin," he said reassuringly with his heart fluttering at the thought of her being so worried about him. "I'll be alright."

"Oh," she said as her own brown eyes grew large. "Well yes please be careful, but do you think you can also let go of my shoulder," she mentioned as she pointed to his hand clenching her shoulder almost painfully. "It's starting to hurt," she said with a small laugh of amusement.

Kohaku's courageous eyes disappeared to reveal red stained cheeks and a goofy smile plastered on his lips. "Sorry about that…..I uhh," he coughed some to gain control of his speech. "I'll be back."

Rin saw her friend make his way over to the silver haired half demon, and not long after she noticed Kaede leaving the hut.

"Lady Kaede," Rin said as she ran to the cold old woman. "You shouldn't be out here its cold. Let's go rest by the fire."

"Nae child, I must see for myself who these newcomers are," she said as she kept walking despite the cold weather freezing her wrinkled skin. Kaede felt a warm blanket drape over her shoulders, and when she turned around she saw Rin walk right beside her.

"Very well, but I am going with you." Kaede smiled and nodded her head as she and Rin walked to meet the mysterious group that lay ahead of them.

xxx

Cool wind blew against fair skin and whistled through silver silk tresses of the Lord of the West. Sesshomaru allowed himself a few seconds to allow the weather to relax his muscles from the long patrol he had to endure for the past few days.

His duties as lord led him to travel up North of his lands, and he didn't waste a single second in searching every section to make sure no mischief or mishap was occurring. Everything looked well so far, but there was a faint smell of blood not too far that he did not find pleasing.

Next to a black steel boot a pile of leaves began to shift back and forth to reveal a shivering green servant.

"Seems Mother Nature has decided to grace us with the cold temperatures early this year wouldn't you say my lord?"

As usual Jaken was given no answer, but even the little imp could tell from all his years of servitude his lord was very fond of the cooler seasons. He wasn't sure if it was the dog demon inside of him that enjoyed it, or if it was just his lord himself that always seemed more relaxed during these specific temperatures.

Jaken could not blame his master for feeling such a way. When they had to take part in the war up North five seasons pasted of cool temperatures, but alas his poor lord was always the target of attacks for the opposing side knew the victors of the war all depended on the survival of the dog lord.

Nobody was able to relax, and Sesshomaru never once got to enjoy not even a moment of his most enjoyable cold seasons; especially with the scent of hot blood spilled on the war inflicted battlefield.

Well that was all in the past and Jaken was happy to see him master's satisfied look when the cool wind would blow in his face and for a spit second it looked like his whole stance relaxed some.

"Not just that," Jaken thought, "But with Rin now back Lord Sesshomaru has been acting even calmer than usual. I've also noticed we are patrolling these parts rather quickly. Usually master takes his time and rests every once in a while. His hot temper seems to have subsided since his reunion with the girl. Maybe his attitude will no longer be so violent."

"Jaken….." came the rich smooth voice of the servant's master.

"I WASN'T THINKING ANYTHING!" the little imp shouted knowing his master was always able to tell when he was being badmouthed by his servant even if it was within the contents of Jaken's mind.

"Do you not sense it?" Sesshomaru asked, completely ignoring the imp's comment.

"Sense what?" Jaken sniffed the air to see if he could pick up what his lord was talking about, and after a few sniffs from the imp's nose he too was able to pick up the scent.

"Blood?" questioned Jaken as he took another sniff of the air to make sure what he was smelling was correct. "It is blood! And here I thought this place seemed peaceful."

Sesshomaru began to walk toward the scent with Jaken running after him, and after a few minutes of traveling through a thick forest Sesshomaru revealed himself from the thin trees to gaze at the scene before him.

"What on earth happened here?"Jaken's voice complimenting his wide eyed face of shock. The demon lord too was baffled as to what had occurred.

Upon the red stained field the scent of blood was overflowing and breached the dog lord's keen nose like an alcoholic drug. Over a hundred demon corpses layed in the field, and each beast killed in its own way. Some were beheaded while others suffered from direct shots to the chest or neck. Sesshomaru could also tell that some of the weaker demons were taken down by a certain stench of smoke. A scent he found highly displeasing, but had no affect on one such as him.

"What a horrifying sight," Jaken said as he walked around minding not to step on any of the bodies or what was left of the bodies. "Who could have done all this, or was it a battle against each other? Such pathetic fools and not a single one of them survived."

"It was humans," said Sesshomaru as he picked up the very faint scent of mortal blood, but as far as he could see there was no sign of human corpses.

"H-human!" Jaken was completely shocked at the discovery for so many reasons. "Humans did all this, but how could they look at all these slaughtered demons. It must have taken a whole army or maybe two to take down this many demons."

"There is no sign of human corpses," Sesshomaru then said as he was observing more to himself than for his servant.

"So the humans won this whole battle without losing any of their own kind." Jaken took a few steps back toward Sesshomaru's leg and found a nice little spot to hide himself in case any more of these so called humans were to come out and attack them.

Jaken felt his master's leg move, and he watch as Sesshomaru began to leave the battle scene without another word spoken.

"Wait for me Lord Sesshomaru!"

Jaken took one last look back, "Who could have done that?"

xxx

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Inuyasha as he looked at the group of intruders. The leader pulled out his spear and aimed it at the half demon.

"Huh, well I can see you're not much into friendly greetings."

The spear striked at a breathtaking pace that even Inuyasha found he could barely dodge. Any closer and his face could have been…..

"Why you," he said as his anger started to build up. They all smelled like humans, but they also reeked of blood.

"You are a half demon," the leader finally spoke. His voice very deep and full of authority, but Inuyasha could care less.

"And what of it," he said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Half or full you still have demon blood within you," the leader took his spear to aim at his prey again. "And as such we cannot let you wander this earth any longer!"

The spear striked again, and Inuyasha once again barely found himself able to dodge the attack. "He's fast," he thought.

"Well I must say you can certainly put up a fight," Inuyasha complimented while his hand went for tetsseiga.

"Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha turned his head to find Kohaku running up to him; armor and weapon included. The slayer took his stance by Inuyasha and looked the leader square in the eye that was visible under the hay hat.

"You will explain yourself," Kohaku said as calmly as he could as to not start up any more trouble. "I am sure my friend did no such thing as to gain such a terrible greeting from you."

Kohaku looked to Inuyasha as his eyes practically screamed out _what did you do!_

Inuyasha matched his stare with a _nothing!_ "I don't know what their problem is, but I'd gladly put them in their place." Inuyasha placed his hand on tetsseiga again only to have another voice stop him from unsheathing it.

"Inuyasha," Kaede said sternly to stop the half demon's brutal behavior. "Now what is it?" he asked, completely aggravated that he had yet to wield his weapon.

"Violence will cease to solve anything," she said as Rin helped her walk next to Inuyasha. Rin looked to all the strangers before her. They all looked…..intimidating. She could barely see their faces, but took it that they were all men.

"Violence!" the half demon barked. "If you're going to lecture on violence tell it to them they started it."

"You are lucky I have not unleashed my army on you half demon," the leaser spoke as he unveiled his hat to reveal a middle aged man with a strong sharp face as well as a black bead covering up his mouth. His eyes were pure black as well as his hair that was braided down to his back.

"So you're nothing more than an old geezer," Inuyasha said.

"Enough of your rude behavior Inuyasha," Kaede said as she stepped in front of him to face the leader. "And as the head priestess of this village I do ask that yae refrain from unleashing any more of your weapons. This is a peaceful village, and as such I plan to keep it that way."

"You are a priestess," the leader said. "Yet you associate yourself with half demons."

"Aye," Kaede said in truth. "Inuyasha is a member of this village, and he be a lot stronger than he looks. I am a priestess, but I have never been taught that all demons possess an evil soul."

"A foolish thought," the leader said though Kaede did not take it as an insult.

"Enough being out here in this bitter cold," she said as she turned on her heels. "Come and have some tea."

"Y-You're inviting them to tea!" Inuyasha barked again.

"Aye, and you may have some as well if you wish Inuyasha." The old priestess then looked to the strangers and spoke to them all. "I have asked that yae all join me, but if that is not what yae wish then so be it. Just know that if yae don't I will have to ask that yae kindly leave this place."

The whole group waited on their leader to call the shot, and after much thinking the bearded man nodded his head which led to horses walking toward the village. He gave Inuyasha one last dirty stare as he cursed to him with an added on, "This isn't over."

"That's it!" the half demon shouted as Kohaku held his from under his shoulder trying to calm him down. "Come on just let the comment pass Inuyasha Kagome will be really mad if you start a fight," he said as he desperately tried to calm down the pissed off half demon.

xxx

A white figure above a cloud covered sky. The sun long before had become shrouded by pure white clouds blocking off any sunlight and giving the atmosphere an even chillier feel than before.

Sesshomaru felt the wind blow even more in his face but he did not care. The cold weather was not so much a bother to him, and it was better than baking in the hot sun.

Over his years of training in every temperature known to the world he had learned to develop immunity to all types of weathers. If it was raining he did not get sick, if it was too cold he did not freeze, if it was too hot he did not burn. Still though that did not mean he couldn't feel them, and out of them all the winter seasons were always most enjoyable.

And if he remembered correctly he was even born in the winter season, but as far as details went he didn't even bother to remember.

"Please slow down my lord," mumbled Jaken as he hid his face in the soft, warm fur. Though as soft as it was that didn't help the rest of the imp's body from feeling like a block of ice.

Jaken knew the reason why his lord didn't patrol on his route back. The reason was young, pretty, and always had a smile on her face whenever their lord showed.

"I don't know why he is rushing Rin is obviously going to be there," he thought.

Jaken noticed a sharp golden glare being sent over his lord's shoulder.

"I WASN'T THINKING ANYTHING!"

**AN: I have already updated the next chapter simply because I am experimenting with the size of chapters and such. Normally this chapter would have been combined with the next but like I said I just want to see how this goes.**

**A comment for each chapter though would be greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	3. Heartless Monster

**AN: As I said I uploaded two new chapters as the same time so I hope you enjoy this one as much as the next one. Please R&R**

(Meanwhile in Kaede's hut)

"Demon…..assassins?" questioned Kaede as she looked to the leader of the group as he and someone else sat inside Kaede's hut.

"You heard correct priestess. My clan is made up of demon assassins. We have traveled far from our home so it is understandable that you have not heard of us."

"I have heard of demon slayers, but never demon assassins," Kaede mentioned.

"We have heard of the slayers as well, and we have also heard of their demise. That is one of the reasons why we have travelled from our distant home."

The man took a sip of his tea as he sighed in satisfaction of the hot liquid warming up his body.

"Your hospitality is appreciated so I will mention my name. I am Chun Lee, leader of the demon assassins."

"Chun Lee," Kaede repeated. "It seems yae really have travelled far from home. Such names are not very common around these parts nor is yae clothing." Kaede examined their Chinese style armor as well as their clothing. Not that different from theirs but different none the less.

Rin was finished with her last batch of tea. The rest of the warriors enjoyed their hot treat outside as they were ordered, and the only one left was the warrior sitting next to the leader.

Rin walked over and held out the tea politely with a smile. "Here you go, enjoy."

The soldier looked to the offered tea but refused. "Huh?" Rin mumbled.

"That is enough," Chun Lee said firmly. "Show your face and accept the tea. I can't have you freezing on me."

A sigh was heard from the mysterious soldier, and as they began to take off their hay hat more of their face was shown.

Rin was the least to say...shocked. It was a girl.

Rin saw the young woman that looked like she was a little older than Rin herself. Her hair was black as well and braided down the back also. Her eyes held so much anger that was obvious enough, but the one thing that stood out most was the scar across her mouth.

A scar ran from the side of her chin to the upper part of her lip. It was no wonder why she wanted to conceal her face, but all in all Rin did not mind. The girl was very pretty overall, but that look she held made it seem as though she hated everybody and everything.

"My tea," she said as she layed out her hands. Rin gave it to her with a smile still displayed on her face.

"Such a lovely girl," Kaede praised as the girl only bunched her eyebrows together while sipping her tea. "Is she yea own daughter?"

"No," Chun Lee answered, "she is my niece. I have been looking after her ever since she was young. Her name is Sue Lee, but you she prefers people to call her Sue."

"They will have to call me by Sue Lee," Sue said with rage as hot as the tea. Both Rin and Kaede were very shocked on how rude she was, but they both held their tongue.

Sue placed her cup of tea down and stood up quickly. "Thank you for the tea, but I do not associate myself with people who hold a liking to monstrous beasts."

Sure walked out with her stance all but happy.

"I apologize for my niece's behavior, but that is just the way of the demon assassins." Chun Lee said as he finished the last of his tea. "That is what separates us from the slayers. We heard they can hold a liking to certain demons, but unlike them we hold nothing but pure hatred for them all."

"Well I am afraid I do not agree with yae, but that is yae own way and I will not judge. Nobody will right Rin?" Kaede asked the girl specifically for she knew of the Rin's affections for the demon lord. She knew Rin would never start a fight such as Inuyasha did, but she could never be too sure.

"Right….." Rin answered.

"If all is done then we will be taking out leave." Chun Lee said as he began to stand.

"Wait," Kaede suddenly said as the man was brought to a stop by the door.

"You mentioned one of the reasons why yea are here is because of the slayer's demise. Although what be yae true reason for coming here?"

Chun Lee turned his head without even bothering to sit down.

"I am going to make this quick for you priestess," he said as he took an inhale of breath.

"We believe that this world will be happier with demons out of the way. Our dream and our goal is to exterminate every demon in living existence. The weaker demons are nothing for us to handle, but it is the stronger ones we have a problem with."

He turned around to face the two females as he continued.

"We have searched for years on the most powerful demon. A demon whose strength outmatches any others, and whose power reigns supreme. Finally after years of searching we believe there may be such a demon dwelling within these lands."

"These lands?" repeated both Rin and Kaede.

"Yes, a demon we have heard of only to be described with hair and skin as white as the moon itself, and eyes made of the purest heated gold. He is also known to wear a fur over his clothing, but we are not entirely sure on that part. They were only rumors we heard, but either way it all led here."

Rin's eyes went wide at the description. _Does he mean….._

"That is why we were led to your village. We heard of a demon that matched the description we were looking for, but he turned out to be nothing more than a weak half demon."

"WEAK!" Inuyasha barked from outside as he could hear loud and clear as to what they were saying. "I'll show them weak!"

"Sit boy," said Kagome as she watched Inuyasha's face get pumbled into the ground. "Geez, I'm at Sango's for only a few hours and already you're starting a fight."

"It wasn't my fault," he said with his mouth full of leaves.

"I see," Kaede said with amusement tickling her from the scene outside. "So you believed for Inuyasha to be this demon you're searching for."

"I did," he said," but then after I got a good look at his skin it was not what was described to us. And I am sure dog ears were not described either. Although I will find him, and when I do…."

"What?" Rin whispered but loud enough for him to hear. "What will you do once you find that demon?"

"We will kill it," Sue suddenly said she popped back into the door. "We will kill it or die trying. Destroying that demon will slowly start to decrease the population of demons. If we can defeat the most powerful demon we can surely kill them all."

"Is killing hi….it really the answer though?" Rin questioned as Sue stared at her with anger. "Figures such talk would come from one who socializes with a half demon." Oh what Sue didn't know for it was more than just a half demon Rin was socialized with.

"You have never seen the bad sides to demons so let me describe this one we are after. This demon we are searching for is nothing more than a vicious monster; a beast whose only purpose in life is killing the weak and innocent."

_T-That's not true….._

"It has slaughtered human after human without any sign of remorse, and has caused more bloodshed than war itself. It is a pure demon inside and out, and as such you should know that demons are suppose to come from the depths of hell."

_No...Not the Sesshomaru I know…._

"A savage beast!"

_No…_

"A heartless monster; that is all it is and all it will ever be," Sue said as she looked to Rin waiting for the young woman to agree with her.

_A savage beast….._Rin could not help but allow her head to be filled with her lord's true form. A mighty dog demon with canines as large as boulders and a size that would make the forest shudder. Even when he transformed his entire frame revealed so much power and strength to match his crimson eyes and jagged birthmarks. She also thought of his strength using bakuseiga, and his overall demonic power.

He was a demon….she knew that. She was reminded all the time when she stared into those golden pools that could never belong to no human.

_A heartless monster…._Would a heartless monster caress her cheek the way he did when he first left her in the village. Would it dry her tears the way he did, or tell her with comfort not to cry?

Would a monster protect her through thick and thin, while always seeming to look out for her safety before his own? Or shower her with gifts for no reasons, but always brings it to her at the most appropriate of times.

Would a heartless monster acquaint himself to an area full of creatures he deems insignificant just to be able to see her, or take part of ceremonies he considers a tradition far beyond his interest just to see to her own happiness?

"I'm waiting," Sue said as she looked to the quivering girl who had her eyes hidden within her bangs with a look that almost made it seem as though she was going to cry.

"Y-Your wrong," Rin whispered which caught Sue's attention. "What was that?"

"Rin," Kaede said in warning.

"I said YOUR WRONG!"

**AN: Go Rin lol anyway that is it for this chapter and stay alert for the next one with Sesshomaru finally returning to the village to see Rin. Oh the drama they will have to face with these newcomers, but at least it's together. Still much more to come so I hope you enjoyed and look out for ch 4 coming soon!**

**Please leave a comment to tell me what you though it would be greatly appreciated. **


	4. Warm Embrace

**AN: Thanks for the reviews so far I appreciate every single one of them. Ok so for this chapter I initially didn't want to add it up till later but I wanted it up now and you will soon read why so please enjoy and R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.**

"I said YOUR WRONG!"

"Rin please," Kaede warned as she tried to calm down the angry girl.

"And just how would you know," Sue shouted back, expressing just as much anger as Rin.

"….." Rin wasn't sure how to answer. To say that the demon Sue was badmouthing was a very special person to her would only cause more trouble. She could already picture these demon assassins raiding though every hut or using Rin herself as a hostage in order to lure Sesshomaru to them.

"I just don't like you talking so rudely about creatures that you don't even know. There are a few demons that come around this village, and they are nothing as you described."

"Such a naïve girl you are. Demons were not put here to make friends with, and there only objective is to kill. The sooner you realize that the better. Humans and demons live in two different worlds….they can never prosper together….."

Those last words punctured Rin's heart like dozens of sharp needles. To hear the one thing that she never wanted to hear when it came to her relationship with Sesshomaru. To hear that they live and think too far apart to ever be happy with one another was painful to hear; why didn't Sue just rip her heart out while she was at it.

Rin found herself struggling to breathe with all the tension lingering in the air, and all she wanted was to just leave the scene.

So she did.

She held her head up high and politely excused herself from the hut. She walked outside to find that it wasn't so cold anymore, but maybe it was just because her head felt so hot. She walked past everyone without even sparing a glance at any of them.

She didn't feel any tears, but she did not want to take the chance and show them. If Inuyasha or Kagome saw her they would surely ask, and right now Rin just wanted to be alone to gather her thoughts. She knew she will feel better after a good long walk.

She began a simple stroll into the forest, but she soon found that as her head became cooler so did the feeling of the weather. She ran her hands up her upper arms and shoulders trying her best to get the blood flowing to heat herself up, but it was no use.

The season was in autumn, yet with the sun being shrouded by a white clouded sky the whole atmosphere gave the scene a very rainy look. It wasn't too dark to actually rain, but the sun wasn't out enough to make the sky shine. The scene wasn't the pretties, but it just about hit the perfect point when describing a cold chilly day.

Rin felt the wind blow against her face, and each and every time leaves would get caught in her raven colored hair. No matter how many times her hair became tangled with the colors of yellow and orange, she could never get all of them out before a new batch decided to make a home in her wavy locks.

She brought her hands to her mouth and blew warm air into them. She could tell the wind was picking up, and the day was getting colder. She loved the cold seasons, but they were best enjoyed when sitting at home by a warm fire while enjoying some hot stew with good company.

This year she was actually hoping that good company would be Sesshomaru. Whether sitting by a fire or taking a walk through the colorful forest either way it did not matter considering this will be the first autumn they will have hopefully spent together.

It wasn't necessarily the first for the season was coming up when Naraku was living his final hours. After his death the process of everyone adjusting to their new life caused the memory of Autumn and Winter to go by so fast Rin hardly remembered if she even saw colorful leaves or snow.

Soon after Naraku's defeat she was told to stay in the village so she never really got to have that time to spend with her lord during those seasons. Eight years have gone by since then, and yes she finally began to see the change in the leaves and the beauty of the snow, but she never saw or spent it with him.

Knowing she was now given that chance left little flower petals fluttering in her stomach, and she even found herself day dreaming of how she could spend the season with him.

"Just as long as I get to spend it with him," she whispered as she leaned against a nearby tree. "It's enough."

_Humans and demons can never prosper together….._

Rin covered her cold ears with her equally cold hands. She could not get what that girl said out of her mind. Like a bad dream she just could not forget it, and the more she thought about it the more she found the urge to spill a few tears. Maybe if she did cry the pain would go away, but she knew it would not solve anything.

She remembered hearing something similar told to her by a monk long ago when she was still a child. She remembered a monk who considered her to be bewitched just because she was traveling with a demon, and they tried everything to see to Sesshomaru's death and their separation. Those demon assassins were not different.

Rin remembering not giving in to anything the monk was saying, and while some things she said and thought did contradict with her life today other things she said and thought didn't.

She never wanted to go back to a village to live with humans….but look where she was now. Not by choice at first, but she knew it was for the best in its own way. She made friends and a new family; she found herself slowly becoming happy living in a human village.

Yet…

_I'll always be with Lord Sesshomaru, forever and ever…_

To any other woman that small thought would be nothing more than a childish wish and dream thought up by a simple silly girl. So why is it that after so many years Rin still kept those words buried deep within her heart like a secret letter never to be thrown away.

It was those words that gave her the strength as a child to look past the fact that she and her lord live in two separate worlds, and allowed her to keep on traveling with him. So what was different now?

Does she see it as more of a painful fact now because she is older? Is it because her feelings for Sesshomaru have grown since she was a child? She saw him differently now, and not just by looks. He didn't seem as distant as before, but still had that quiet personality Rin was so used to.

They got along well, and if any argument or misunderstanding it was always resolved without being reduced to fighting or yelling, but then again as if she could ever yell at him to begin with. She still held so much respect for him, but knows now that it's ok to be a little playful so long as she didn't overstep her boundaries.

She knows know that he doesn't mind such close contact from her so long as it is nothing so over the top like trying to push him to the ground or squeezing his neck too hard.

He began to talk a little more, but he still only spoke when necessary and his sentences were short and to the point. Unlike her who can start her sentence off on one thing and end up on a completely different subject, but he never told her to be quiet or complained about her constant chatter even though so many other people have.

It wasn't just their use of vocals but when it came right down to it there was nothing similar about them. Through personality and looks she and Sesshomaru were as different as black and white. Their thoughts, their nature, their temper, their interests….the list could go on and on.

She knew of their differences, but when they were together she felt like she was so connected with him. She felt like she could feel everything he felt and figure out everything he was thinking. When they were together with the simple desire of only wanting to spend time with one another things between them no longer seemed so different.

"She says humans and demons can never prosper huh?" Rin said as she looked up into the endless white sky. "I'll just have to prove her wrong then."

Rin felt the wind suddenly pick up and she clutched onto the tree bark as to keep herself form tumbling over. During the process she felt a single tear slip past her eyelids.

It was only one teardrop, but she knew it was the one that held all the previous pain she was feeling.

Rin smiled while feeling her shoulder and hands shiver. The pain was gone now, and she could feel herself no longer caring what Sue said earlier because she knew it wasn't true. She believed what she believed, and will continue to no matter what Sue may throw at her.

"Rin," spoke a sudden voice behind her.

Rin's eyes went wide at the sound of the deep warm voice that already stopped her body from shivering. Rin turned her head from the bark as she felt her heart beginning to warm up at the sight of two rich pools of gold staring back at her.

"Lord Sesshomaru," she said softly with the sun's forgotten heat radiating off of her bright happy smile.

Rin turned herself around and inspected him from head to toe. His fair skin combined with his long silver locks of sheer silk along with those warm eyes of his that looked like it could warm up even the coldest of days.

Of all the times he has returned to her since his visits began, she has never been as happy as she was now. He came when she needed to feel his presence the most; needed him the most. And at that moment there is only one thing she wanted most.

"Lord Sesshomaru…." She said timidly as she approached him slowly. He stood perfectly still although his eyes widened a little when he felt her hands wrap around his torso. He felt her head lay against his chest with her cool breath barely hitting his neck.

He almost found his cheeks turning the colors of the red leaves when he began to notice she was embracing him. It was a sudden thing to do, but she did it slowly and held him gently as her cold hands simply rested against his back.

Rin buried her face in his chest while taking caution in his armor. Despite the cold steel against her body she still felt her body beginning to heat up.

Rin closed her eyes and allowed herself the pleasure of holding him for a few minutes. She felt him relax against her touch and that alone was all she needed to know that he did not mind the embrace at all.

She smiled a tiny smile, and soon a small thump was beating against her ear.

Since when do heartless monsters have beating hearts. A beating heart that Rin found tuned absolutely perfectly and only reminded her of the night he told her he was going to visit her when she decided it was best to stay in the village a little while longer.

Rin looked up to meet his face looking down at her. So much emotion emitting form an emotionless mask that only she was able to look past.

There was nothing hideous about him when all she saw was beauty beyond any compare. There was nothing monstrous about those eyes she found herself becoming lost in again.

Rin felt something cover her back, and when she finally broke eye contact she looked behind herself to find his fur draped across her shoulder and shielding the cold from hitting her back.

She smiled and whispered a sweet "thank you" as she let out a happy sigh and layed her head back against his chest.

He responded with a small "hmm" before his fingers found the remainder of the leaves she could not get out of her hair from before. One by one he picked at the crumbled pieces of dead leaves and released them on the ground till her hair was back to the raven colored curls he was so used to.

Rin hugged his body just a little bit tighter. He may not have hugged her back, but his surprising little gesture was just as much appreciated.

"It's reckless to be out in the cold," he chided calmly.

"I know," she said as she smiled into his clothing.

Rin suddenly giggled, and while he couldn't figure out what was so amusing she turned her head up to look back into his warm eyes.

"But that's what makes embraces all the more enjoyable."

Rin did not hear him respond, but she could have sworn that after she felt a hand rest on the fur draped over her back and everything began to feel so much warmer than it did before.

**AN: Yes, really wanted to post up some pure fluff in this chapter XD Normally I would have waited till the end but I couldn't help myself since another cold front came in and the cold seasons are my favorite so it inspired me to write a sweet moment for Sess/Rin without the bother of other characters.**

**Stay alert because there is still more to come in the next few chapters, and of course I will just think of an even sweeter moment for these two in the end. **

**Anyway thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and leave a comment if you can! **


	5. Stand By Your Side

**AN: Took a little longer than I planned but here it is chapter 5 and as you can tell it is the longest chapter yet so it did take me a little while longer I was simply in the mood for a longer chapter. I hope you all enjoy I appreciate all the comments left so far thanks a bunch everyone! Please R&R **

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.**

Rin kept the embrace going a little while longer. She would have ended it sooner, but each and every time she had the idea of letting him go she found her arms tighten around his lean muscular frame even more.

Maybe it was because it was cold enough to the point where the wind felt like razors against her icy skin, but with him so close it was as though all that freezing pain suddenly vanished and was replaced with a sunny warm feeling spreading throughout her skin.

It was not only his body heart, but he had been gone a few days longer than what she was used to. Of course she understood he had other duties to attend to so she has not nor would she ever complain. Some men don't come back from journeys for months at a time so she should be lucky he was only gone a few days.

Still though, she had missed him so much.

Just a few days yet to her it felt like a few months. There was even a night when she found herself waking up thinking he was still at war, and everything that had happened was all just a wonderful dream. Although all she had to do was look at her beautiful kimono or pretty lantern, and not to mention the layout of her home before she fell back asleep with a smile on her face.

Then there was the incident with Sue talking ugly about the demon she cared so much for. For that woman to call him so many horrible things, and presumed she knew everything there was to know about him. Did Sue know of the countless times he saved her? Was Sue aware of the many times he had gone out of his way and even put his own safety at risk just to see that his simple human companion was safe?

As far as his past went…Rin would ask one day if curiosity really got to her. Yet she was always taught to never make assumptions by the past actions of another, but instead look at what they have accomplished in the present.

After everything Rin had been through these past few days all she wanted to do was hold him for a few moments; even if he did not hold her back, but she always felt him shift his fur around her shoulder to keep the cold from hitting her. In a strange way she would rather have him do that then embrace her back for it was just as affectionate especially if it was coming from him.

It was a sweet tender moment she had wanted to share with him for the longest time, but like every good moment it had to end sooner or later.

She felt his muscles clench and a small noise in the back of his throat let her know it was time to release him. She held in her sad sigh and untangled her arms until she stood a good foot away from him with her hands clasped together on her lap.

She almost had the feeling that maybe she embraced him too long for his liking, but when she heard a familiar voice down the path she felt a little happier knowing he only wanted her to stop because someone was coming.

"Rin," Kohaku shouted down the dirt road when he spotted his friend standing near a tree. His eyes widened when a white figure entered his line of sight and he automatically knew who it was.

"Lord Sesshomaru…..." he said as he stopped a few feet away. "It's been a long time. I am glad to see you are doing well." The young slayer held his head up high and showed the demon lord a proud smile. Though he and Sesshomaru were never very close Kohaku knew of the protection he received from him.

There will always be a large amount of respect he would give Sesshomaru for everything he did in the past even if Kohaku knew Sesshomaru only brought him along because his company was useful.

Sesshomaru looked back at the young man and already knew it to be Kohaku. He had seen him before but never got a clear look till now. The boy had turned into a tall muscular man. Almost as tall as he was; probably a few inches off. His dark hair was longer, and his face had lost the innocence of a child. His body grew in muscle, and his stance seemed to hold more pride than it did when he was a boy.

There was no response given back, but it was not as though Kohaku was expecting one anyway.

"Rin are you ok?" he asked as he stepped closer to the girl with a blanket in hand. "Here Lady Kaede told me to give this to you. You must be freezing." He stepped closer to wrap the blanket around her.

"Not as cold as I was before" she answered with a blush still covering her rosy cheeks. A red tint spread around Kohaku's face as well. She always looked so cute when she blushed and he only wished he knew why she felt so flustered at the moment. _Is it because of me?_

"Do you need me to walk you back?"

"No, I'm ok," she answered with a small smile. "I was hoping to accompany Lord Sesshomaru for a little while longer."

"Well you can't stay out here," he interjected "It's only going to get colder and I don't want you to get sick."

Sesshomaru arched his brow at the young man's comment while sensing the obvious worry in his voice. He also noticed Rin's face widen as her blush deepened to the point where she wasn't even cold anymore.

"Kohaku…" she whispered.

He found the embarrassment of the situation overwhelming, and he suddenly backed away as he looked in the opposite direction toward the village.

"Well you know how worried Lady Kaede would get if you were to get sick, and the last thing she needs is to get worried so I just thought it would be better to get you back inside where it's warmer and well….um yeah…."

If he were any less of a serious person Sesshomaru would have rolled his eyes at the slayer's ridiculous excuse. To hear of his concern over Rin and seeing the constant coloring of his cheeks the great demon knew that whatever feelings Kohaku had for Rin they were nowhere near friendship.

What left Sesshomaru wondering now was if Rin's feeling were mutual?

"I understand," Rin reassured as she patted him on the shoulder. "I will return to the village."

Rin began to walk down the path after Kohaku as she motioned for Sesshomaru to follow along.

"Rin what are you doing?" Kohaku whispered, which was pointless considering Sesshomaru's good sense of hearing.

"What do you mean? He can come with us."

"Not with our new guests still in the village."

A small gasp left her mouth as she paused in her steps which led to Sesshomaru stopping right behind her.

"Lord Sesshomaru you can't go in the village!" Rin had almost forgotten about the unexpected guests still lingering around in the village, and who those unexpected guests were after.

He responded with the arch of an elegant brow as he became puzzled as to why the heck he could not go. Rin saw the question through his eyes and began thinking of a way to explain to him the reason why. It wasn't as simple as it sounded. She feared that once he knew he would go and kill every assassin that was after him, and the last thing she wanted to see was bloodshed especially with the villagers so close by to witness it.

Rin knew he could be ruthless when it came to certain things like that, but he was also one to not get into unnecessary fights so maybe he will just let the whole conflict bypass.

"Well you see…" Rin felt a gentle hand rest on her shoulder.

"I'll tell him," Kohaku said.

xxx

A harsh sneeze sprang from the snot covered beak as Jaken shivered from the freezing wind. How the heck his master could enjoy this weather he will never know. "Where did you run off to this time Lord Sesshomaru?" he thought as he walked around with bits of leaves hitting him in the face.

"If all he wanted was to be alone he only needed to say so," he said followed by a mouthful of curses and sneezes. "If I don't find warmth soon I'll become just as sick as any pathetic human, and if that happens I won't be able to follow after Lord Sesshomaru. Then Rin will have to nurse me back to health and that means…"

Jaken could already picture it. Rin shoving a spoonful of vile disgusting medicine down his throat or possible having to listen to her nonstop rambling about her life in the village. The girl may have learned a lot of things during her time away from her demon companions, but the one thing she never learned was to SHUT UP!

"She'll probably keep me in a nice soft bed all day while feeding me hot bowls of soup and….hmmm," he thought. The image of hot stew and a nice warm cozy bed sure did sound pleasant at the moment. Every servant needed their vacation and Jaken felt he was in dire need of one.

The happy thought of it all allowed him to forget about the cold for a few minutes as he began to skip happily toward the village with his eyes closed and his mind set on that hot crackling fire and warm bowl of soup.

If the images in his head had not of set him mind off track he would have never have hit the leg that was standing right in front of him.

"Watch where you're going," the imp scolded as he looked up to the human woman he bumped into. She gave him the dirtiest look Jaken had ever seen; it even looked more deadly than the look his lord gave him. If he didn't know better he would say the woman wanted to kill him.

Sue looked down to the strange imp like demon that stared up at her in fear. The look of fear was soon replaced with a look of disgust.

"Learn to cover up your battle wounds woman," Jaken blurted out referring to the scar on Sue's mouth.

"INSOLENT BEAST!" shouted Sue as she waved her sword in the air.

Jaken's eyes went wide and he scrambled to get away from the attack just as it struck the ground beside him. The little imp forgot all about the cold weather and the hot stew, and only thought about reaching the safety of his master's leg.

"LORD SESSHOMARU!" Jaken shrieked as he ran as fast as his little legs could get him into the bushes.

Sue ran after him, but the chilly air was getting to her as well. "He won't escape me next time…. that disgusting creature," she said as she turned around to head back to her uncle. Before she took another step though, she turned her head and looked into the direction of the bushes.

"Lord…..Sesshomaru?"

xxx

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Kohaku watched as the demon lord walked away from the slayer with his stance obviously showing he wasn't happy about the situation at all.

To be told not to go for the sake of humans. To allow other human so seek his demise and he is to just sit there and allow them to live with those thoughts. It was frustrating to his demon pride, and it was madding to be a powerful lord and not be able kill those who oppose him.

What kind of a demon was he is he allowed that to happen?

"I think what I said made him mad," Kohaku stated. He only explained the situation and asked that Sesshomaru keep his distance from the village. Kohaku mentioned that if the assassins were to spot him they seemed like the kind of army to attack whether or not the safety of the villagers was on the line.

It was, not only his wish, but also Kaede's that no one was to be killed over the whole thing. The world has suffered enough bloodshed between humans and demons and the last thing needed was more.

Sesshomaru, however, did not see it that way.

He stood on the edge of a cliff looking down toward the village. The cold wind blew some of his hot tempered steam away, but that still did not settle his boiling blood.

"I'll go talk to him," Rin said. She walked his direction and as soon as she was close enough she stood by his side. He did not look directly at her so she could tell he was angry to hear of the new threat. She also knew that by his facial expression he was not going to suppress his desire to fight just because Kohaku mentioned it would not be a good idea.

She wasn't entirely sure what to do or say when he was in this kind of state for he usually went off alone when he was angry.

From the cliff he saw the prey he so desired to kill; each as vulnerable as can be. The army of assassins stood outside the priestess's hut and talked to one another completely unaware that the demon they were seeking was watching them from afar.

"You agree with him?" Sesshomaru asked which caught Rin off guard that he was the first to speak.

She did not know how to answer. To tell him the truth may only make him angry, but to lie to him will only make her feel worse.

"Yes…." She brought her head down to look at the dark green grass covered with brown crispy leaves. She did not hear him respond after that, and felt that she could not leave the conversation ending the way it was.

"I know my lord is more than capable of handling things on his own. I do however worry for the villagers, and…..I have to agree with Kohaku that I would rather there not be any bloodshed if it can easily be avoided….."

Again she got no response, but with his eyes sheltered within his silver bangs that concluded he was still not satisfied with anything.

"But….," she added as extended her right hand to grab hold of his left. Kohaku was too far away to notice, and the length of their sleeves covered their hands from even their own view.

"I will neither object nor stand in the way of any decision you make my lord. All I ask is that you be careful and return safe."

She felt him jerk a little but he did not pull away. She laced their fingers together in hopes that he may calm down and understand where she stood on the whole thing. Even if he did decide to go against everyone's wishes and fight she will accept his decision and wait for his return.

He was a demon, and at times she knew he was going to do things she may never understand. She did disagree, but she would also rather stand by him than risk never seeing him again. In the end what he was doing was not so crazy. He was not killing just for any reason, but those assassins wanted him dead. They were bound to cross paths one day, and if it happened now it won't happen again hopefully.

"Is that your final say?" he asked as her felt her hand wrap around his.

"Yes, Lord Sesshomaru." She felt him give her palm a gentle yet noticeable squeeze before he released her completely.

"Hmmm, very well," he said as he began to walk down the path again. Rin turned her head expecting him to fly away or continue walking down the dirt road, but what she saw instead surprised her.

He walked over to a large tree and made a little spot for himself to sit down comfortably.

Rin was the least to say….confused. What was he doing?

"Lord Sesshomaru….," she said as she walked over to him. Once she was a good distance she sat on her knees not minding the cold ground so much. She saw him look to her with all the anger she expected to see completely gone.

"What is it?" he asked without the slightest tint of emotion in his voice as usual.

"Didn't you want to…I thought that maybe you were going go and….uh…?"

"Again, I do not understand broken sentences," he said which left her face red from the embarrassment.

"Weren't you going to take care of…the problem in the village?"

"I will take care of it at another time," he stated simply as he leaned against the tree and looked into the darkening sky.

"Any action I take now that village of yours will only get in my way."

Rin's eyes grew large at his comment. He wasn't going to kill them after all. Well as he said maybe one day he will, but by the sounds of it he seemed to take the village into consideration. It all just came out in a very….Sesshomaru like fashion.

_Sesshomaru…._

She couldn't help but smile at what he had done. She wanted to thank him, but knew better than to say such a thing. He would not like hearing it, and by his calm face she could tell it was better to just drop the subject.

"What will you do now?" she asked as she inched a little closer to him.

"I'll be fine here," he answered as his gaze went from the sky back to her.

"In this weather?" she asked with concern nearly spilling form her mouth. He arched his brow indicating that was pretty much the plan.

"I'm staying here with you," she said as she leaned in closer.

"I will not have you fall ill," he answered back with his elegant brow going down in a sign of disapproval.

She knew he had a point, and she could already feel her nose burning red. Along with it getting darker the wind was picking up even more. She knew it was going to be a cold tonight, and she did not want him to be left alone when he could have been with her in a nice warm hut right about now.

"I don't want to leave you alone like this."

"This whether is nothing I can't handle." Perhaps he should soon explain to her the whole immune to the climate temperatures thing, but for some unknown reason he actually found her concern for him to be very pleasant. If it had been anyone else they would have left him the moment he sat against the tree, but of course if it had been anybody else the last thing he would want is their pity or concern.

"Yes, but…." Rin undid the blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders. "Here take this."

She saw him grab the blanket, but soon felt it on her shoulders again. "It is not necessary."

She almost felt like letting out a sigh of defeat. She almost felt useless, but found it was better not to trouble him with it.

"Can I trust to see you here tomorrow?" he asked when he sensed the disappointment in her gaze. His simple question brightened up her whole world like as though the sun had just appeared from the dark covered sky.

Yes," she said happily. "I'll be here first thing in the morning after all my chores are done. I promise," she finished off her sentence by softly palming his cheek. She could feel the heat from his face increase as it allowed her hands to warm up a little.

He nodded his head with a small noised added from the back of his throat.

"Till tomorrow," she said with a smile.

xxx

"Uncle?" Sue called out as she sipped more of her hot soup the old priestess made. "Didn't you mention once the demon we are seeking was considered a lord around these parts?"

"Just another rumor we can't be too sure of," he answered as he read over his maps and scrolls.

"But you have heard of it right? I mean if he is the most powerful demon than he most certainly should have gained the title of lord right?"

"Yes, but don't press your luck there are plenty of demon lords around the nation, and some even try to pass off as imitators."

"Oh," Sue said as she sipped more of the broth before looking at her uncle again. "Tell me uncle…."

"Hmm?"

"Have you….any idea what the demon's name could possibly be?"

xxx

A few minutes later Kohaku walked with a very quiet Rin down the path leading to the village.

"I don't know how you do it?" he said, breaking the silence.

"Do what?" she asked.

"I don't know how you are able to….communicate with him so well. Even when you were little it was like you and he spoke some secret language."

Kohaku didn't normally like to talk about Rin's relationship with Sesshomaru, but considering she may have just changed the mind of possible the most powerful demon in the nation…..well Kohaku could only envy what the girl could do.

"Oh," Rin said as she laughed a little while her cheeks went red. "Well that it's….I don't find it that hard to talk to him just…..I mean…..Well I guess it's my little secret," she concluded as she brought her finger to her lips in a shushing motion.

"I feel so bad leaving him there while I sleep in a warm bed tonight."

"Demons can handle the weather better than humans can."

Kohaku looked to Rin from the corner of his eyes as she noticed what he said did not calm down her worry. Maybe he could do something to make her feel better. She was always one for hugs so maybe….

He could already picture the image of holding her body close as they shared each other's body heat. He could also picture her thanking him as she would wrap her arms around him and softly breathed into his neck.

_Perfect…._He thought as he smiled victoriously with his hands fisted in determination.

"Rin," he said as he stopping in front of her. She stopped and gave him a confusing stare.

"Well I just thought of something that might make you feel better."

He saw her smile as she looked to him with those sweet chocolate eyes of hers. "Kohaku…."

_This is it!_

"Thank you, but I don't think even Lady Kaede's delicious soup will make me feel any better."

….

Kohaku felt his eyes nearly explode out of his head as his mouth went wide while his jaw nearly fell to the ground.

Rin walked passed his nearly ghostly white form and continued down the path to the village. "You better hurry you know how Sango can get when you are home late."

"R-R-Right," he said as he walked behind her with his eyes nearly as wide as they were before.

This girl could possibly be the death of him one day.

Little did the poor fellow know that Rin already shared a warm embrace earlier that day with a certain someone else.

**AN: Poor Kohaku XD oh well love will reach him eventually lol that's it for this chapter and as you have read Sue is becoming quite the little investigator so let's just see what happens now. If Jaken had only of kept his big beak shut but o well I love that green toad lol **

**Hope you enjoyed it and stay alert for the next chapter coming soon! Please leave a comment if you can Till next time!**


	6. No Words Needed

**AN: It's late at night and I can't sleep so I thought I would finish up this chapter. I don't know why but I am getting caught up in the fluff all of a sudden lol must be the cold weather it always inspires sweet tender moments. Anyway hope you all enjoy so please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters**

A young woman stretched her hands up to the sky as a yawn escaped her dried mouth and sleepy tears formed in the corner of her eyes. "It's so early the sun hasn't even begun to show yet. Why did you decide to get the chores done so early Rin? Hey, are you listening?"

Rin ran frantically around the river gathering as much water as she could into a bucket to take back to Kaede. "Yeah, what you just said," she answered to her long time village friend Saki.

"What is with you? I have never seen you work so fast during your chores before," she said comparing Rin's bucket full of water to her half filled one.

"I've just got a lot to do today," Rin answered back as she whipped the sweat from brow. It was not as cold as it was yesterday and the early morning did show signs of the sun coming out that day, but the chilly air still lingered around and the wind had its cold moments.

_I wonder if Lord Sesshomaru is still by that tree. I hope he's ok; the weather was so cold last night I could barely get any sleep without worrying about him._

"I prefer the warm weather over the cold any time. How am I supposed to find a suitable husband while all the men are working during the winter," Saki said as sulked over her own life problems. "What kind of weather do you like Rin?"

When Saki was again not given a quick answer she dipped her hand in the river and splashed some water on her cloudy headed friend. "Rin!"

"Hey!" Rin said in surprise as she shivered from the cold water splashed on her face. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"What's the matter usually you're the one who can't stop talking," Saki said as she put her hand on Rin's forehead. "Are you getting sick?"

Rin laughed a little and moved the intruding hand from her head. "No no, it's not that I just have a lot on my mind."

"I bet it's those new guests of ours isn't it? They give me the creeps they stand ready for battle every second of the day; it's as though they expect a demon to pop out of the forest any minute."

"Yeah I am not too fond of their stay either, but Lady Kaede said we couldn't send them off in the cold weather yesterday. Hopefully today they will decide to leave."

Rin eyed her friend and thought up of an interesting question to ask. "Saki what are your thoughts on demons?"

"My thoughts," she said as she put a finger to her chin and looked up to the sky pondering the question asked.

"Well I know that half demon Inuyasha lives here. When I was little he was pinned to a tree in the forest and my father told me never to go near him. Then he was released by that priestess and now he lives in this village with her. My father now says he is a respectable demon since he has saved the village more than his fair share of times."

Saki looked back to Rin with a smile on her face. "I really don't know any demons personally. I've seen the fox travel around here but that is about it. I can't say that I hate them because I don't, but I also know that there are still some evil demons out there so I can't say I necessarily like them either."

A short moment of silence passed between the two before Saki spoke again. "Good enough answer for you?"

Rin smiled and nodded. "Would you be willing to give them a chance if you met one?"

Saki chuckled a little. "If it was a he and he was marriage material then perhaps, but I don't think my father would approve of me marrying a demon." Saki laughed at her own joke while Rin only wished she would have answered seriously.

Looks like Saki was not yet ready to meet Sesshomaru if she took the question as a joke. One day though Rin will tell her friend about the powerful demon that saved her as a child and gave her the life that allowed her to be where she was now.

"Is your mind on a boy Rin?"

Rin's cheeks turned slightly red as she looked back to a grinning Saki. "W-What are you talking about I never mentioned anything about a guy."

"You don't have to when it is obviously in your eyes," she said as she grinned more while moving closer to a blushing Rin.

"I'll bet it is that demon slayer that's been hanging around with you lately. I've always seen you two around each other even when you were little."

"You mean Kohaku?" Rin questioned as she thought about her dearest friend. "Don't be silly Kohaku is just a friend. If he had any other feelings for me he would have said something." Rin waved her hands in her face trying her best to forget the subject and move on.

"Maybe he is just the shy type. I have been close to a few guys like that and trust me they always have a hard time expressing their feelings. They usually turn red and change the subject or try to make up something to cover up the embarrassing thing they may have said. It's sweet, but it can be a little annoying if you ask me."

Rin thought a little about what Saki had just said, and she distinctly remembered Kohaku acting that exact same way yesterday when he mentioned his concern over her health.

"I-I don't know what to say….." Rin felt her face heat up more.

"Well you have known him for a long time. You can't tell me you never had any kind of feelings for him."

"I always thought he was cute when he was a boy, and now that he is older he has grown to be a very handsome man." Rin knew she was as red as Saki's kimono by now. It was true though; Rin would not lie to herself and say she never had a little puppy crush on Kohaku.

"It was just a childhood crush that never went anywhere," Rin said as she began to stand with her bucket in hand.

"Why ever not? You say he was too shy, but if you had some feelings for him why did you never say anything to him."

"The….time was never right I guess," Rin answered followed by a laugh in hopes of ending the conversation. "Look there is somewhere important I have to be so would you be kind enough to take my bucket to Kaede please. I will see you later bye!"

Rin waved her hand back to her friend as she ran up the path from the river while Saki shouted back to wait. The young woman looked to the buckets of water she wasn't even given the choice to carry and hung her head low in defeat.

"Why me," she mumbled

xxx

Rin ran as fast as she could to her hut. She knew she will get scolded at for running around like a child, but knowing that her lord was waiting for her made her all the more giddy inside. Normally she was the one waiting for him, but this time is was the exact opposite.

He was waiting for her arrival, or so she hoped. She did not want to keep him waiting, and she most definitely didn't want to run straight for him without bringing a few supplies in hand.

After a few good sprints passed a few huts Rin finally made it to hers. She made her way inside her door and bumped right into the one person she did not feel like talking to at that moment.

Rin stumbled back a little and looked up to the scar faced woman with temper rising in her eyes. "If you had any decent sense you would have known that I was coming," Sue said as she sent sparks of tension shooting from her eyes.

Rin could have been smart and asked what the woman was doing in her hut in the first place, but held her tongue in. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of yesterday; she only wanted to get her things and leave.

"You look sweaty where are you heading to in such a rush?"

Since when was that any of her business, but yet again Rin kept her words from starting a fight.

"I have a lot to do today," she answered while trying her best to avoid eye contact.

"I see," Sue replied as she walked past Rin with her eyes set forward. "Well don't go getting in our way today. We plan to search the area for any demons, and the last thing we need is for you to go around protecting those beasts."

Rin took in a small gulp. If they were to survey the spot where Sesshomaru was then a fight would certainly break loose. Knowing Sesshomaru's power though, it would hardly be considered a fight. Rin could not help but still worry though.

It was obvious the fight would go one until someone met their death, and as much as Rin wished Sue Lee to be gone from her life she will try her best to make sure the foolish woman did not of getting herself killed by Sesshomaru.

Rin pointed her finger in the direction Sesshomaru was. The end of her fingertip aimed right at the top of the cliff where she last saw him.

"There are lots of demons in that area over there. I would suggest you go take a good look there."

Sue arched her brow and gave Rin an unsure look.

"Really, why would I lie to you?"

Sue got face to face with a trembling Rin. "Because I know you hold kindness for those disgusting creatures. The only explanation as to why you are telling me to go there is because you are really trying to lead me away from where they truly are aren't you?"

Sue noticed the countless amount of time Rin looked toward the opposite direction she pointed. The female assassin turned her head over her should to look at the exact opposite location Sesshomaru was located at.

"So that is where all your little friends are hiding."

"NO! I did not point in that direction. I did not say anything like that!" Rin shouted as she pulled off the best act she had ever performed in her life.

"As if I would go where you told me to; how foolish do you think I am?"

"Very," Rin thought.

Rin allowed her facial expression to show off the look of sadness and worry as Sue only smiled at what she thought was a victorious discovery.

"Well thank you for the information girl. The rest of the army will definitely use it well."

Rin fell to her knees and hid her eyes from view as Sue only smirked and left the broken girl on the ground.

After a few moments Rin turned her head to see that Sue was completely gone, and after a good pat on her back she ran inside her hut.

She picked up a piece of silk and began putting a few things inside to make a small bundle. She brought a blanket for the obvious reasons, and she also brought along a few rice balls and a small bamboo container of hot tea to keep her hunger and thirst at bay.

She wasn't sure how long Sesshomaru was going to stay this time, so she wanted to put in as much time with him as she could.

All set and ready for another day to see her lord, she thought as she walked out of the hut.

xxx

Tree after tree after tree; Rin was certain anyone could get lost in this forest if they did not know the way around. She however, knew her way through these woods very well. She traveled around here since she was little and knew just about every dip slope and mushroom there was to pick.

She became more anxious with every step she took. Would he still be there? Could she blame him if he decided to leave? The weather was at its coldest temperature yet the other night. Rin even found herself walking up half the night with the idea of going back to him and telling him to come back with her regardless of who's there.

She never did and she not only spruced up more worry within her, but she had a lousy night sleep as well. Now she was worried if perhaps he had gotten ill. Do demons even catch cold, she wondered.

The more appropriate question was if Sesshomaru himself could even catch a cold? The more logical answer would have to be no in her mind, but that still didn't slow down her speedy pace through the forest.

After what seemed like running around in circles she finally recognized the cliff he was on the previous day.

She surveyed the area and sure enough there he was.

Rin stopped and smiled when she noticed his long silver white hair flowing in the cool wind. Sesshomaru stood proudly at the edge of the cliff as he looked down at the village and noticed all his recent enemies leaving in the opposite direction.

A strange action for them to take and an action he would have looked into if not for the woman standing behind him.

"Lord Sesshomaru," Rin said as she walked up slowly behind him. He turned his head over his shoulders to meet her bright sunny face. She gave him her happiest smiles and took note that with his facial expression being stoic as ever he must mean that he was ok.

"I'm sorry if you had to wait long," she said as she extended her fingers to grab his hand. "Are you ok? Last night was….." No sooner had she spoken a word before a surprising gasp escaped her mouth.

Rin felt his fingers and if it was not for the sight of his hand she could have sworn she was touching the cold freezing texture of ice.

Soon what was supposed to be a tender moment of lacing fingers together became an inspection of his pale freezing hand. It was like feeling cold air in the center of her palms.

Sesshomaru turned around fully to see what she was doing exactly, and the arch of his brow was all that needed to be said.

"My lord are you not cold?" she asked s her concern filled eyes searched his as her hands kept massaging over his palms and fingers. "Your hands certainly are?"

Rin's own hands swept over both of his as she tried her best to get his blood circulating. While she worked on that Sesshomaru on the other hand had no idea what she was so worried about. He felt fine; yes the weather the other night was cold but it was not as though it affected him.

Same processed as if he was burned; there will be a scar left in the process but that did not mean that it caused him pain or that he felt it. Same occurrence now, but he didn't find himself complaining over her concern for his well being.

He felt her hands leave his for a moment as they began to get near his face. She hesitated for a moment, and the look in his eyes gave her all the permission she needed to see.

A gentle warm hand gently cupped his left striped cheek, and soon the same process happened with her other hand is it made contact with his right cheek.

His whole face was cold as well, and she almost felt like cursing herself over the guilt she felt. She knew it was wrong to blame herself, but he stayed the night in the cold weather for her.

Even if it seemed to not bother him the fact that he waited for her the whole night in the cold was all the more reason why she did not need to hear any words of affection spill from his lips. Not when his actions spoke for him, and it was times like this that she knew he cared about her.

"Your face is so cold," she pointed out as she ran her thumbs up his stripes. She took her actions slowly and knew that one flinch from him meant it was time to release him. It was her moment to get to show him her side of the affections they shared, and she loved every minute of it.

"Do you have a fever?" Her right hand went to his forehead and tried her best not to notice how soft his hair was even in this cold dry weather. Still as soft and silky as she remembered it to be, and after realizing his forehead felt fine she went back to warming up his face and neck.

"I'm sorry what you had to endure last night. Are you sure you're ok?"

"It is no bother," he answered truthfully as she looked up at him with confusion swimming around in her warm brown eyes.

"Such weather like this does not affect me."

Those brown eyes widened in shock as her face began to turn a bright red. Well if there was ever a time she felt silly for worrying so much it was now. "Oh," she said as she laughed a little at herself. Rin gently released his face as she spoke "I'm sorry I guess it was kind of foolish of me to have….."

A clawed hand held her right wrist to keep the hand cupping his left cheek in place.

"It was not foolish…." he interrupted as his gaze never left hers.

Rin felt her face heat up more at the fact that he wanted her to stay her hand, and his own heated gaze almost sent her on her knees for she felt her legs beginning to shake.

"I…I uh…." Whatever she was trying to say was not coming out properly for every time she looked into his eyes she found herself lost in his golden gaze. She didn't even notice her thumb rubbing his cheek in a tender way nor how close they seemed to have gotten.

It was all too much for her, and she knew she had to say something before the heat in her cheeks decided to burst through her ears.

"I-I brought a blanket with me," she said as she smiled before letting go of his cheek and clutched her bundle to her chest.

"Would you like to go sit down?" she motioned to the tree not far away from them.

Sesshomaru's gaze went from her to the tree she pointed to as his eyes squinted in an annoyed look. Rin caught on and turned her head and almost laughed. There draped against the tree was a knocked out snoozing Jaken that blew a large snot bubble in and out of his nose as drool dribbled down the side of his beak.

"Well first we will have to see if Master Jaken is still alive," she teased as she began to walk toward the silly imp before something ear piercing rang throughout the forest.

"What was that?" Rin said as she looked in the direction of the trees as Sesshomaru did the same.

A few moments passed by before both Sesshomaru and Rin heard it again.

Someone was screaming.

**AN: Totally finished this chapter at 4 in the morning lol I'm so tired. This chapter came out good in my opinion. It was not what I planned at first but things always change half way though so I hope you all enjoyed and please leave me a comment if you can! Stay alert for the next chapter and get ready to meet a small blast form the past ;) **


	7. To Whome The Scream Belongs

**AN: Ok, so I finished this chapter a few says ago, but was nowhere near internet to post it up until finally today yaaaa. Another character will be added in because my summary did say "two new friends" and this one comes with her own drama so lucky for Rin right :p so here is the chapter that will answer more of your questions and I hope you enjoy, please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.**

Sesshomaru listened in on what exactly was transpiring through the shrouded forest as another wave of ear pitching screams sent vibrations to his sensitive ears. His eyes could not locate the source of the scream, but his nose and ears certainly could.

It was a situation he knew was far beyond his business so he kept from doing anything that would allow him to interfere. Another scream whistled through the forest, and not only was he getting annoyed but he could already see that Rin was beginning to grow suspicious herself.

No doubt she will check things out sooner or later, and rather risk her getting hurt he made the decision to look on ahead. It may not have held any interest for him, but at the same time it was a matter than needed inspection none the less.

"Master Jaken, wake up," Rin said as she shook the fuzzy minded imp out of his slumber state. "Do you not hear that?" Rin winced as she heard another scream.

Imp or no imp she had to see what was happening so close to the village. Was a villager injured, or was it an attack? If someone was in trouble she knew she should at least try to help.

Just as Rin got back on her feet she already saw the wisp of silver hair flying through the forest. "Well there he goes," Rin shrugged as she hoisted Jaken over her shoulder. "And we can't go leaving you behind," she said as she ran in the direction her lord left in.

If he didn't want her to interfere he would have told her to stay put in a short simply word or two, but she didn't hear anything so she found herself running through the forest thinking it was times like this that she wished she could fly as well.

Sesshomaru sprinted with demonic pace through the enormous set of trees leaving him turning and swerving in every direction until he finally relied on his power of flight to guide him over the forest. He could hear everything that was going on as well as picking up some natural scents.

The smell of water grew stronger and the sounds of harsh crushing vibrations thundered through his ears. He could already smell and hear the waterfall, and now as he got even closer he could pick up the scent of a few demons and one very noisy human.

It was obvious from all his observations that a human was attacked, but now that he knew he felt no obligation to aid them.

Sesshomaru came to a quick stop within the dark shadows of a few trees when the scene of the young woman and the demons played out before his very eyes.

The dog lord stood on the cliff opposite of the waterfall, and not far from that uncontrollable water a girlish woman ran in a short blue tattered kimono with a hoard of crow demons chasing after her.

Demon crows were five times the size of regular crows, and their desire for human blood was all the more troublesome. The dark crimson eyes of the inky black feathered beasts chased the poor girl down the river's edge while a few of the foul creatures tried to attack her with their rock solid beaks. The girl ran as fast as she could with her dark bruised colored legs, but even she had to tire out with the amount of screams she released.

After a few more seconds and one very ear pitching scream later one of the crows was able to peck hard enough at the girl's shoulder to send her falling down into the river. She popped her head up from the crashing current, and when the harsh sounds of the waterfall reached her ears she turned her head to find the last thing she wanted to see.

Sesshomaru got a clear view of it all. The girl was bound to fall to her death at the rate she was going, but he still held no interest in saving her.

Those crows however were starting a ruckus in a peaceful area, and the less the annoying situations the better it was when it came to his patrols. Those crows needed to be taken care of, and as for the girl…well she better be a very good swimmer.

The girl struggled between holding her breath under water and gasping for air above. The current was strong, and the closer the fall became the more frantic the water got. More rocks got in her way but the smooth texture was not enough to grab hold of and no branches were near to grasp either.

As if things weren't horrible enough the girl noticed the demon crows were after her yet again. Their eyes set on her human blood while she figured either way she was going to die a painful death. This was usually the time someone lost all hope, and that is precisely what she felt as she closed her eyes and waited for the worst to happen.

She heard the harsh shrieking sounds of something being cut, and when she opened her eyes she felt the hot essence of blood spill on her face. She gasped in shock and disgust as she felt a crow's body land straight on her face causing her to lose more of her control.

Not far from the scene a few bushed rustled and Rin popped her petite frame out of the itchy bristles. "Finally, I thought I was lost for a second," she stated as she was relieved to see sunlight again after what seemed like an eternity of traveling through the dark forest.

"You mean you had no idea where you were going!" Jaken pestered as Rin put him down on the ground.

"This is why I would rather travel with Lord Sesshomaru any day rather than with you girl."

"Aww you don't have to be so rude about it," Rin complained as her face formed to show a sad little puppy dog frown. "And besides I knew where I was going. I have been around these parts before you know," she explained as she smiled and pointed one finger in the air to prove her point further.

Rin may not have had the demonic speed and power of flight that Sesshomaru had, but she had traveled through those woods long enough to know her way around. Instead of ending up opposite the waterfall she was able to maneuver around the area till she found herself in the exact location the scream was coming from.

"Now as far as where Lord Sesshomaru is I…THERE!" She pointed to the sky where Sesshomaru was seen slaughtering a handful of demon crows with one sweep of his claws. One by one a black feathered pest was sliced in half while others had their body crumbled to pieces by the dog demon.

"Looks like he is doing just fine," Rin said as she felt a small breath of relief left her system. The demons seemed like nothing he couldn't handle so she focused on the other task at hand.

"Ok Master Jaken, we have to try and find….hey!"

"Lord Sesshomaru wait I'm coming!" the imp shouted as he ran in the direction of the dog demon.

Rin sighed as she palmed her forehead at the much too loyal of a servant. Suddenly another scream filled her ears and Rin quickly ran down the river knowing that whoever was in trouble had their best chance at survival lying in Rin's hands.

The girl turned her head to find the waterfall was already closing in on her, and as she felt her feet rush with the current down to her doom something caught her wrist.

The girl looked up to find another raven haired girl holding onto her with all her might and strength. She saw a young woman kneeling on one of the rocks and extending her arm out just enough to save the water's victim from meeting her maker.

"Hold on," Rin advised as she tightened her grip on the girl's wrist while pulling her up to safety. The girl had no other choice and she hoisted herself up till she felt her knee on the slippery rock. "Are you alright?" Rin asked as the girl's eyes widened in fear as she pointed over Rin's shoulder.

"Look out!"

Rin turned her head to come face to face with the red orbs of the crow demons. She gasped and tried her best to dodge the vile creature only to have her feet end up slipping off the rock. Rin leaned against the girl as both females fell back.

Rin knew there was no escaping the waterfall now, but the less pain the better so before she completely felt herself slip she used her feet as leverage on the rock to jump far enough from the fall as to not get caught up in all the water.

"WE'RE FALLING!" shouted the girl as she waved her hands around herself in a desperate attempt to grab hold of something. "WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

Rin held on to the dirty blue material that was the girl's kimono, and while she tugged to grab hold of the other female's arm she noticed the girl's own screams and adrenaline rush caused her to become unconscious.

Rin grabbed the unconscious girl by the arm and only one name filled her mind. "Lord Sesshomaru!"

The shout was, of course, heard, and Sesshomaru stopped in his killing spree to fly toward the waterfall Once Rin was in his sight he picked up his speed and flew down the waterfall and Rin turned her head to see him moving down to help her.

"Lord Sesshomaru," she shouted as she used her other hand to extend out to him while he used his right hand to grab hold of hers. Their hands linked together, but Sesshomaru knew he will not be able to save her fully this time.

He could sense more of those pesky crows chasing after him, and in an effort to make sure Rin did not get caught up in all of it he pulled her over smooth water and dropped her in.

Rin felt her body become engulfed in cold river water, but it was much better than falling in rough water with sharp jagged rocks meeting her at the bottom. She swam with the girl in hand, and soon her nose and lungs met fresh cool air as she breathed in enough air to make sure she will not go drowning any time soon.

Rin swam to shore with the girl swung over her shoulder and she spotted Sesshomaru not far off taking care of the rest of those crows to makes sure none made it to her. Even thought he simply dropped her in the water he always knew what to do to make sure she was out of harm's way, she thought with a smile.

After a bit of strength on her part she finally made it to shore. Rin took not of the girl she just saves; well with the help of Sesshomaru. The girl was not a child, but Rin could tell she was younger than herself by size and looks. Rin tested out her weight and found her to be very light and she began to wonder how long it had been since this female had eaten anything.

Rin carried the girl on her back, and started walking back to the spot she left her supplies at. Rin turned her head to take one last look at Sesshomaru. She saw him taking care of all those pathetic demons and she knew that with everything going on with Sue and the demon assassins it was better to let him blow off some steam.

He turned his head as he sensed her looking at him, and for a few second their eyes met in a silent conversation explaining all that needed to be done.

Rin nodded her head and felt a tickle in her stomach knowing that she still held that connection with him to where she was able to read his eyes like a book. She knew he wanted her to leave as soon as possible so she will not get in his way, and he will return to her shortly after he takes care of things there.

Rin hoisted the girl higher on her back and began walking back into the forest.

**AN: There you have it for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed and stay alert for the next one when you find out just who this mysterious girl is, and how she ends up creating another source of drama in both Sesshomaru and Rin's life. Please comment if you like I would appreciate it and until the next chapter!**


	8. To Know One Another?

**AN: Ok this chapter was just done recently so here you go more information on that girl and the kind of trouble she will bring to Sesshomaru and Rin's relationship. Please R&R and I hope you all enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.**

It was pitch black, but the smell of food and warm sounds of a crackling fire urged brown eyes to open wide.

"Oh, you're awake," a voice said softly. The girl turned her head to find her savior heating up some rice balls over an open fire as well as heating up as to what she could only describe to be tea. She noticed she was lying against a tree with a warm blanket covering her dripping wet body from head to toe.

"It's a good thing the sun was out a little today. If it had been anything like yesterday we both would be frozen icicles by now," Rin laughed before she smiled to the shivering girl who was giving Rin a suspicious look.

"I had the idea to get you out of those wet cloths, but I did not want you waking up to find me undressing you," Rin then teased as she took the rice balls in her hand.

"Are you hungry?" she asked as she offered her the food. "I just heated them up so they are the perfect…." Before Rin could finish her sentence the rice balls vanished from her hands faster than the amount of time it took for her to even realize they were gone.

Rin watched as the girl swallowed the food in big large bites leaving her fingers sticky with rice which was then soon licked off as well. The girl grabbed the other two rice balls and the process repeated itself leaving Rin watching with her mouth shut tight and her eyes reacting as she thought she were watching an animal eat.

"I see you were hungry," said Rin which caused the girl to turn a dark shade of red. "Don't worry about it I can always make some more." Rin grabbed the bamboo container and offered it to the girl. "Would you like some tea?"

The offer was accepted, and this time the girl drank with more elegance and a show of manners to match. She drank the tea slowly while savoring the hot liquid heating up her cold body.

"I give you my thanks," she said. It was the first time Rin heard her speak softly and clearly aside from all the screaming from earlier. "For saving me as well as the meal you provided."

"It was no problem," Rin answered with a friendly smile as she stood up to add more wood to the fire. "Why?" she heard. Rin turned to look at the girl who gave her a look that could be described as a cross between confused and anger.

"Why did you help me?"

"Well you were screaming…loud," Rin answered as though it was the simplest question in the world. "You obviously needed someone to help you, and I would feel terrible if you died because I was too cowardly to help."

"You could have died as well!" the girl shouted back. "Why would you risk your life like that? Were you not scared?"

Rin blinked, "On the contrary I was very scared." Rin paused in her sentence to look up at the sky. "But I knew I was going to be alright." And by alright Rin meant that she gave every ounce of her trust to her demon protector who ended up saving her in the end.

"How could you have known that? We were fall….that's right we fell down that waterfall! How could we have possibly survived?" The girl searched her body to make sure she was really alive and not dreaming or was now some kind of ghost.

"I uh….guess the waterfall wasn't as dangerous as we thought," Rin laughed right after making the lie all the more obvious.

"So tell me," Rin quickly added to change the subject. "Do you have a name?"

The girl turned her head away as she stuck her nose out in the air. "I am not at liberty to reveal my name, but….you did save me so as my thanks I will tell you."

Rin felt a drop of sweat run down her had as the thought of a name being used as a source of gratitude.

"My name is Ami," she stated as she looked back to Rin. Rin extended her hand out in a friendly shake. "Nice to meet you Ami, my name is Rin."

"Rin," she repeated as their hands met each others. "You live in this forest?"

"No," Rin said followed by a small giggle. "There is a village down the road from here. I'll take you there later, but right now there are a few…..guests there that I would rather not run into."

Ami gave Rin yet another puzzled look before Rin spoke again. "What about you? Where do you live?"

"My…my home was destroyed in the war…."

"…I'm sorry to hear that," Rin turned her head mentally scolding herself for bringing up the subject. "So, you've been on your own ever since?"

"Yes, I have been for a while, and as you can see I am not very good at it."

Rin laughed a little thinking it was a very good joke, but once she realized she was the only one laughing she suddenly stopped and cursed herself again.

"What about you?" Ami suddenly asked. "Hmm?"

"Are you alone?"

Rin smiled a sweet smile, "No, I have a few friends in the village. I lost my family a long time ago so they are the closest things I have."

"I see, and a few of them were with you when you saved me?"

"Yes, a companion or actually companions of mine were with me. We heard you scream and went to your rescue. Right now one of my friends is taking care of all those crows as we speak, but he should be back soon."

"Are you sure he can handle them? You saw how large they were."

"He's pretty strong so I wouldn't worry too much about him. If he doesn't come back soon then I will go back to look for him."

"How did you get yourself into such a predicament?" Rin then asked.

Ami looked away again, "It was cold last night, and I needed shelter. I found a cave that night only to discover that morning the cave was home to a hoard of crow demons. The rest is pretty self explanatory."

"These areas are usually peaceful, however since the winter season is coming up more weak demons, like those crows, decide to get close to areas where humans live since the cold season makes humans all the more vulnerable."

"Oh," Ami replied thinking how in the world was she suppose to know that very valuable pieces of information. Too bad for her there was no demon slayer to provide her with such knowledge like Sango was able to give Rin.

While Rin stoked the fire a little more Ami took a good look at the young woman. Rin was a little taller than most girls her age, and by the mere action of her carrying someone on her back through a think forest was more than enough to prove her strength surpassed most girls her age as well.

Her hair was long and dark with a long ponytail running down her right side all tied up by a pretty yellow ribbon. Her eyes seemed gentle and soft, and her frame was petite yet strong. A very beautiful woman that seemed to always have a smile on her face, and could easily capture the attention of any man.

Ami thought about her young girlish body that barely hit the stage of development so everything was starting to show, but when she saw herself she still saw some child in the river's reflection.

Ami looked back to Rin and compared her extravagant yet simple kimono to her tattered blue one. Ami got a better look at the pretty wardrobe when Rin stood up to grab the bamboo container.

Something about Rin's kimono looked…..familiar. She could not pinpoint her finger where or when exactly for she had seen many kimonos in her life.

"Where did you get that kimono?"

"This?" Rin asked as she looked down to the kimono Sesshomaru got her a few months ago. Her yellow kimono scattered with the design of orange birds was the first gift he had given her since he returned from five long years at war. It was her most precious treasure; well if she was being specific then it was the most precious object to her.

The most precious thing to her in all the world would have to be well…..him.

"It was a gift from someone," Rin answered as she straightened out some of the wrinkles of her clothing.

"It's beautiful," Ami complimented as she couldn't take her eyes off the clothing. She knew she had seen it before, but kimonos always come in the same style and design so it was no big deal really.

"Thank you I think so too," Rin smiled.

Another few moments of silence passed between them before Rin spoke again. "Say Ami…."

"What? Did you need the blanket back?"

"No no not that," Rin answered as she poured herself some more tea. "Do you know anything about demon assassins?"

"Demon assassins?" she repeated. "No, I cannot say as I do," Ami answered back as she snuggled up more in her blanket.

"How do you feel about demons?"

"I…have met one in the past and….well he helped me so I cannot say as they are all bad."

Rin couldn't help but feel happy to hear that. She could possibly have another friend by the end of the day. She and Sue may have gotten along if it hadn't of been for that whole Sue trying to kill Sesshomaru thing. Sue will have to be dealt with sooner or later, but right now Rin was content with having a new female friend at the moment.

"It's been a while," Ami stated as she looked to a somewhat worried looking Rin. "Your friend…."

"He's alright I'm sure," Rin reassured, but more to herself than Ami. "He's strong, and I know he can handle him…..HE'S HERE!"

Ami almost jerked at Rin's sudden change of voice.

Rin and Ami looked up to find Sesshomaru flying their way with Jaken clinging ever so tight to his fur.

"That's your friend!" Ami's eyes widened as she felt her whole body begin to heat up as though a fire and just started in the pit of her stomach.

"Yes," Rin said as she drank some of her tea. She was so glad to see he had finally returned. She had wanted to run to him when he landed, and she wanted to happily shout out his name, but she knew things between them were a little different when someone else besides Jaken was around.

Their sweet little moments were private, and as long as Ami was near Rin would refrain from doing anything too affectionate. Still though that didn't mean she couldn't give him her happiest of smile connect with him through their eyes or walk beside him.

When Sesshomaru got close enough to where he was going to land Rin truly felt like running to him while shouting out his name, but knew better than to…

"SESSHOMARU!" Ami shouted as she uncovered herself from the blanket and ran to him with all the speed she had.

Rin coughed up her tea as she choked on the spilled liquid before lifting her head to see Ami running to Sesshomaru. SHE KNEW HIM!

"She…she knows him," Rin mumbled as her eyes grew the size of the rice balls. Ami knew Sesshomaru?

When Sesshomaru heard his name he thought it to be Rin at first, but when he noticed it was the other female he immediately stopped causing Jaken to swing from his fur and ending up falling a few feet down into Rin's arms.

Rin caught the falling imp as she stood up with him nestled between her elbows. "Master Jaken what's going on?" she asked as the imp rubbed his massive headache. "How does she know Lord Sesshomaru?"

Rin and Jaken looked on ahead as Sesshomaru finally landed on the ground only to regret his actions when he felt an unfamiliar female run up and wrap her arms around his armored torso. He immediately growled at the actions, but it didn't seem to faze the weeping smiling girl from his arms.

Rin's gentle tough and warm embrace he was already used to by now, but this was…uncomfortable and annoying. Along with his growl the arch of his brow and the pout to his face was all the proof needed to show that he was not liking the attention given to him.

Rin saw the whole scene unfold before her. Ami ran to Sesshomaru and hugged him full on. Now she stood with her arms around his torso and her nose buried in his chest while her hands gripped the back of his long silver hair.

"That girl," Rin heard Jaken say. "I'm sure we have crossed paths before, but I can't remember where."

Rin's eyes kept staring at the scene before her.

"So she knows him," Rin said as she tried her best to put on a happy smile. "That's good I'm glad Ami won't be completely alone now."

Rin felt a tiny twinge stab at her heart with a few little words swimming in her head that reminded her that it could have been her hugging Sesshomaru instead….but she could not get made or angry at the actions displayed in front of her.

She actually felt a happy smile form her face when she noticed Sesshomaru was did not like the embrace very much at all, but that still did not stop Ami from hugging him tighter.

She was still hugging him….

"Ami," Jaken repeated as he put his thumb on his chin. "I'm sure I have heard that name somewhere before but where…..!...Rin you're squeezing me Rin…."

Jaken gripped the girl's arms as he tried to gasp for air. What in the world was wrong with her?

"Rin I'm choking Rin….."

**AN: LOL sounds like someone is a little jealous, but who wouldn't be. However, I would like to point out that I had enough of that jealous drama in the anime so I will not go having fights started from all this drama. It will be done in a different way, but you have to stay alert to see what I mean!**

**As for Ami, yes I have used her character before and some of you may know her already. She played a small part in Confusing Choice, and an even smaller part in Greatest Gift. You are welcomed to read the stories if you haven't, but it is alright if you don't for I will better explain her character in the next chapter, but one things I will say is she is the kind of character I will not put in every single story. I just thought it would be interesting to add her on and see what I could make of it **

**Anyway stay alert to see more of what happens and don't forget about Sue because I certainly haven't. Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed and please leave a comment if you like I would appreciate it. Till next time!**


	9. Special Person

**AN: Hope everyone had a good holiday because I know I did which is also the reason I took a bit longer on this story. I spent my thanksgiving at A&M in Texas where I got to see a friend of mine for the first time in months and check out the university there. All very interesting and very very fun especially at night when all the collage kids feel like having a good time drinking at a few bars while yours truly became the designated driver when the first one got drunk as well and started throwing peanuts at random people….but that's another story lol XD **

**I had a great time but all the while my story was in the back of my mind so here you go the next chapter and as you can see it is a bit longer to make up for lost time so I hope you all enjoy it and do please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.**

"Sesshomaru," Ami said with a bright smile shining on her cherry red face. "It's been a while I didn't think I was ever going to see you again!"

A silver brow arched and a smug pout formed on the face of the dog lord as he stared in confusion at the bubbling female. Her arms were still around his torso, and after the whole ordeal with her uncomfortable embrace he untangled himself from her grasp.

"Sesshomaru?" repeated Ami as her dark brows scrunched together to show her own sign of confusion. "Do you not remember me?"

There was no doubt in Ami's mind that the demon before her was the very same demon that assisted her a while back. It was all in his response that she knew she was not mistaking him for anyone else. His response being that he gave no response at all so most definitely him.

With a quiet "Hmm" Sesshomaru turned away from Ami and began to walk away with his stone cold expression that she remembered him giving the last time she layed eyes on his frozen yet angelic face. "Sesshomaru wait!" she shouted as she reached out her hand to him only to see him walking in Rin's direction.

Rin watched in fascination. She rarely ever saw his associate with other human beings aside from perhaps Kagome, Kaede, and a little of Kohaku. His attitude took a small turn when someone else was around.

When it was just him and her he still was a demon of few words and a smile was never molded into those lips of his, but she would not want him any other way. Although, when it was just her with him she was able to see a touch of gentleness added to his eyes that broke apart his stone cold gaze leaving a pool of rich golden sunsets staring at her. And just like staring at a real sunset, she found a certain warmth envelope her like a soft silk blanket.

Of course with Ami here he would not act that way, but his distant non-talkative personality was nothing new to Rin so despite his hard gaze she still smiled as she did when she was a child looking up at that same hard gaze.

Sesshomaru walked to Rin and passed her with a simple "Let's go" leaving his mouth. Rin nodded her head and took one last look at Ami. Jaken too was staring at the girl after his purple face finally turned green again much after a few hard squeezes to his neck area thanks to a certain riled up female.

"My lord are you sure you do not recognize her?" the imp asked.

"No…," he answered back in his usual distant tone as he didn't even look back to give Ami a second glance.

"Do you recognize her Master Jaken?" Rin looked to the girl who shivered from the lack of warmth as her expression showed a mix of anger and sadness.

"How can you forget me?" Ami shouted while Sesshomaru ignored her harsh tone of voice. "You helped me not long ago. I am Princess Tenami, and you Sesshomaru helped save my lord from a tragic death."

"That's Lord Sesshomaru to you gi…wait," stuttered the imp in Rin's arms. Jaken suddenly felt as though a picture show nudged its way into his green noggin to reveal to him all the memories having to do with that young arrogant girl. "Don't tell me your that foolish girl who asked if you could accompany us!"

"What was so foolish about asking such a question?" shouted Ami as she sent Jaken a dirty glance. "You are that foolish human!" Jaken sent her his own dirty look as he hissed while Rin held him back to dissolve any confrontation the two may start.

Rin looked back and forth between a still angry Ami, and a very distant Sesshomaru. "Lord Sesshomaru wait!" she shouted while dropping Jaken in the process. Rin ran the short distance to catch up to him till she was at his side.

"What about that girl?"

"I leave the course of action to you."

"Me?" she asked a bit shocked that she was now responsible for the young adolescent teen. She saw him look at her from the corner of his eye as though he was telling her "That is what I just said."

Rin rubbed her thumbs together as she looked back and forth not knowing exactly what to do next. Her actions were more than obvious enough to make him stop and lend her some small advice on the situation. Rin was so lost in thought that she didn't even realize the person she was walking next to suddenly stopped. She turned her red face around and smiled crookedly at him.

"My lord?" she asked as she noticed he had yet to move from his spot. Sesshomaru's eyes moved to the side to signal he was looking at Ami. Rin understood the meaning of glancing at Ami, and she smiled and nodded her head.

"I will not wait long," he stated while Rin stepped a little closer and agreed with a gentle smile as she saw a his eyes soften just a tad.

"Why don't you come with me?" Rin asked as Ami and Jaken kept hissing at each like angry cats. They didn't like each other in the beginning, and they didn't like each other now.

"Were taking her with us?" Jaken said in disbelief at the horrid thought of having a human tag along that he considered more annoying than Rin.

"No, I am only asking that she accompany me to the village."

Ami thought about the offer, and turned her head to the side. "I didn't really have any intention for settling down. I wanted to see the country side before I ever choose a place to live out my life permanently."

"I can understand that," Rin said as she walked closer to Ami noting the young girl was just a few inches shorter than her. "But you cannot possible survive the winter without shelter. Why not accompany me to the village and when the spring comes along you can continue your travels."

Ami turned her head to Rin and gave her offer another thought. "If you don't something even more deadly than crows may come after you," Rin warned.

That seemed to do the trick when Ami's eyes shrunk to the size of black dots, and she quickly turned her head looking off to the distant nothing. "Well…as long as I can leave when spring comes along."

"You can leave anytime you want to, but it would be safer in the village for now."

"Very well then," Ami declared as she straightened up her back. "I accept."

"Good," said Rin as she hoped she made the right decision. Why would she even doubt this decision? She couldn't just leave the poor defenseless girl out in the cold.

"And what about him," Ami asked as she stared as Sesshomaru. "Lord Sesshomaru," Rin started off as she looked at him as well, "Looks like he is losing his patience so we better hurry."

Rin ran in his direction followed by Ami. "Don't leave me behind," Jaken shrieked as he tripped over his staff.

"A Perfect Killer?" questioned Sue as she looked at her Uncle as they rode along the outskirts of the village.

"You told me last night if I knew the name of the demon we are searching for, and I told you I didn't have a name to give him." The general of the demon assassins stopped his horse as he looked to his niece with a serious stare emitting from his eyes.

"But that name is the only source I was able to pick up long ago when our journey first began. It was given to me by some lowly demon who begged for his life. I said I would spare him if he told me the name of the most powerful demon he knew. He gave me that name, but I was foolish back then to have killed him anyway without even getting a specific name out of him."

"And "The Perfect Killer" is the only name you have heard? Did you not ask any other demons about it?" The general closed his eyes and brought his face down in disappointment.

"Demons are arrogant creatures Sue, and when the question was asked to them the answer was always given that they were the most powerful demon to ever live."

The general bought his horse to a stop which led to the entire army stopping theirs as well knowing that the halt of the horse meant they were going to rest for a while. The general stepped down from his steed with the fire in his eyes igniting.

"The Perfect Killer, The Killing Perfection…either one it doesn't matter. We will find that demon and bring an end to the era of demons and dark sorceresses."

Sue stepped down from her horse and stoop next to her uncle with the same fire in her eyes. "Father's last wish was for us to be able to create a world where everyone could live out their lives peacefully with one another. That was my father's last wish, and as his daughter I am going to make sure it comes true."

"To fight for my brother's last wish is very honorable, but demons will only get in the way of peace," the general said as he rumbled through the horses saddle pack to take out some scrolls and maps.

"And that is precisely why I aim to see to this all so mighty demon's death, and put an end to all demons so that the world may live in peace. I will fulfill my father's wish no matter what it takes…"

Sue was suddenly brought out of her speech when she heard the rustle of paper and the other men in the background taking their own rest.

"What is it you have there uncle?" she asked as she undid her hat and sat down next to him. "Just a few maps of the places we have traveled. I am marking this place down as…."

"Uncle?" Sue suddenly interrupted, "Who is that?" she asked as she pointed to a painting of a figure with long white hair tied into a high ponytail while clad in large black magnificent armor.

Sue's long black hair cascaded down her shoulders as her dark black eyes closed in on the figure painted on the old scroll.

"I know what you are thinking, but it is not the demon we are searching for," the general mentioned as Sue let out a disappointed sigh. "But it looks so much like the demon we are searching for, the hair even the eyes and look he is even wearing fur. How can it not be him?"

"Yes I know he looks similar to the demon we seek but," the general explained as he picked up the scroll. "This scroll has been handed down from our ancestors. It is over 300 years old by what my grandfather told me when his grandfather passed it down to him."

The general allowed Sue to look at the portrait again. The creature looked majestic and royal, and for some reason Sue felt as though raw power was seeping out of the different colored ink used to paint the figure to the utmost perfection.

"It certainly could pass off as human," she replied. "We have dealt with demons that masquerade as human beings before Sue," he uncle reminded her. "Yes I know," she replied but didn't know what else to say.

"Why don't we ask this demon if he knows who "Killing Perfection" is?"

"We can't do that," the general replied as his eyes closed. "And just why not," she protested.

"That demon is dead…." He said while his eyes opened to look into his niece's shocked face.

"D-dead?"

The general looked into the sky. "I have heard stories of that demon from my grandfather. Your father and I would listen to his stories trying our best to get as much information on demons as we could."

The general's eyes went from the sky back to Sue's pitch black eyes.

"Over 500 years ago a clan of dog demon lived and prospered around the North Western regions. My ancestors passed down the story of the dog demon clan being destroyed by another clan of demons. This demon you see in this picture was able to survive."

The general brought his hand to his chin as to recall what he could remember, "And I have even heard my grandfather mention of a female dog demon who escaped the whole ordeal due to her giving birth to a child."

"So if this demon was not destroyed along with his clan why did you say he was dead?"

"I was just getting to that. Well to get more to the point that demon you see there was a well known general that ruled over the western continent. He was known to be all powerful, and led his army like no other with an iron fist ready to strike any enemy that dare oppose him."

"Sounds like a difficult opponent to kill," Sue stated.

"You would think so, yes. Although, one way or another that demon met his demise over 200 years ago. There was said to be many rumors of his death, but none that was passed down into the family story. Perhaps a war got to him, or a betrayal could have gotten the better of him…it is all unknown to us."

"Hmm," Sue grunted as she looked at the picture one last time before rolling it up again. "And I really thought it was the one we were looking for too. The silver white hair and the yellow eyes match what we are looking for."

"Some demons just happen to look similar. Like that half demon from yesterday; he too had the colors we were searching for but he was not the one, and besides that he was a half demon so no demon as powerful as the one we are searching for could ever associate with himself with a lowly half demon."

A few more moments passed and the general marked down the area they were in as clear. Soon after he placed the scrolls neatly in the pocket saddle of his horse before he ordered his army that the resting time was over. He took his seat on the saddle as Sue did the same.

"I thought you mentioned there will be a lot of demons in this area, but I have yet to see even one."

Sue brought her head down and growled to herself. She figured out halfway through the trip the little trick Rin had pulled, and Sue did not like to be made a fool of. She figured out that Rin was actually trying to lead her away from the demons. Why would the foolish girl want to protect them so? What was so special about them?

Did she not know that in the end demons only betray those who trust them…?

"I am aware of that Uncle, but I assure you tomorrow will be different," Sue said as her eyes became even darker than they already were.

"And that girl will pay."

Only a few minutes into the walk and Rin could already sense that her little offer was a bad idea, but of course being the kind person she was Rin could not just leave Ami in the cold. However, the more Ami got closer to Sesshomaru the more apparent it became as to why exactly Rin did not like her tagging along.

"Sesshomaru?" asked the young girl as she got closer and closer to the demon. "Do you honestly not remember me?"

She was given no answer…as usual, but still got close enough till she was side by side with him while Rin walked behind them with Jaken feeling suddenly sweaty at the amount of heated energy Rin was emitting.

_What is with this girl?_

Rin watched as Ami walked with Sesshomaru…with her lord…with her Sesshomaru. "With my Sesshomaru?" she thought as her eyes widened and her cheeks suddenly heated up her whole body.

He was not hers nor had he ever been hers. He was her lord, yes, but that was it…right? Rin knew she was feeling jealous to see Ami stand so close to him, and it wouldn't have affected Rin so if Ami wasn't any more obvious on her feeling for the dog demon.

Rin picked up the feeling of Ami adoring him as much as Rin does, and if Rin didn't know better she would say Ami looked and sounded as though she was in love with him, but it was way too soon to tell. One thing was for certain though, and that was the fact that Ami did not see Sesshomaru as just some other being.

She obviously must have some feeling of admiration for him, or perhaps just a lot of respect but the young teen looked at him too many times to simply feel just that.

From behind Rin was unable to see either of their faces, and the thought of not being able to see Sesshomaru's reaction was slowly eating at her heart. _Don't make such a big deal out of it Rin; just smile now is not the time to trouble yourself with this._

And smile she did, but if there was ever a time putting on a smile was considered difficult for her that time was now. She looked happy on the outside, but on the inside all she could think about was how much Ami looked at Sesshomaru, and….if or how he was looking back at her.

Rin began to wonder if his eyes began to soften for Ami as they did for her, and she also wondered if Ami was able to see his rare smile like Rin has seen in the past. Rin's mind trailed off thinking if Sesshomaru looked at Ami as much as she looked at him, and perhaps Rin just couldn't see it from walking behind them.

Why did it bother her so much, and why was she allowing this jealousy to take over? Why was she so sad at the sight of him with another female, a female that is obviously attracted to him? She could not comprehend why she was so sad or why she was so angry…

"Angry," Rin whispered to the lowest her voice could get, but Sesshomaru heard either way.

Angry, she thought, what exactly was making her angry.

Was it Ami? To be angry at a girl who was freely expressing her feelings to someone she seemed fond of. Rin knew the sad truth was that she had no right to be angry at Ami when in reality Sesshomaru had no one tying him down in any type of intimate relationship.

Rin knew she could not be angry with the young teen especially when Rin knew she certainly was not and…perhaps could never be the one to tie her lord down to such a relationship. Not when he seemed to like his freedom. Not when their worlds still seemed to be at battle with each other constantly.

Was she angry at him? Rin suddenly felt as though all the color in her body was lost.

To be angry with her Lord Sesshomaru was a feeling Rin never ever wanted to experience. She felt that pain once, and it was hardly considered anger rather more like irritation but that is how their argument long ago started but was soon resolved with her in falling asleep in his strong arms.

She learned back then that getting angry will only make things worse between them, and Rin knew deep inside she could never get angry at him when he has given her so much in the past. What was she to be angry about anyway? He didn't even seem to like Ami by the looks of it, and if he did he had every right to be with who he wanted to be with even if the outcome would break her heart.

Rin had a feeling her whole jealousy revolved around the possibility of someone else seeing the rare beautiful smile he would sometimes give off even if one would only see it as a smirk or slight shift of the mouth; to her it was a smile.

The thought of someone else seeing his smile aside from her was probably the painful part.

There was also the thought of someone else seeing his eyes soften up to reveal gentle pools of gold that could mesmerize even the strongest of souls. His eyes which Rin would gladly look at all day long knowing looking into his eyes was like looking into the doorway of his soul.

And for some reason Rin wanted to be the only one with the key to unlock all those hidden emotions. Compassion and tenderness; even if it was only small affections every caress he gave to her cheek as well as every gentle look he gave her was precious to her.

Every single moment with him she wanted to lock way in her heart to forever remember the time spent with him not knowing when or if it would end.

For him to display such affection on her when a demon of his status should see her as one rank up from mud left her feeling special to him. For him to show her a side of him that no one else was able to see…she wanted to be the only one to see it…she wanted to be his only "Special one".

Was it selfish of her to want to be the only one to be able to see his eyes soften, or feel his hand caress her cheek? Is that what it means to be jealous?

Rin's mind wandered from left to right without knowing which direction was which. Her thoughts were so jumbled she barely even heard the stern "Rin" that was called out to her.

Rin lifted her had to meet those very pools of gold that she had wanted to see only to realize Sesshomaru was standing right in front of her. "Answer the master the first time Rin," Jaken scolded as Rin realized he must have called her out a few times before her thoughts cleared to allow her to hear him again.

"Rin," Sesshomaru spoke again which caught her attention immediately. Rin bowed her head a little as she shut her eyes tight. "I'm sorry my lord. I did not mean to ignore you I was just lost in thought."

Rin evaded his eyes knowing that after all her thoughts and thinking, seeing him will only cause her blush to deepen.

Apparently he did not like the lack of eye contact though because soon Rin felt a finger lift her chin only to have her staring at the eyes her mind was just thinking about.

Rin stared into his ember depths being able to see his gentle gaze hold a bit of concern over her. For a few moments Rin watched contently as his eyes just bore into her leaving her face turned the shade of red she was embarrassed to have, but leaving her body feeling warm despite the chilly weather.

"Don't fall behind," he said softly in that smooth tone of voice that made the texture of a new forged blade seem only second in comparison to his soothing deep voice. The tip of his finger never left the spot under her chin, and after his words were spoken Rin could not help but give him her sweetest and brightest of smiles to warm up the atmosphere for the both of them.

She realized at that moment his soft gaze and hidden emotions had never left her line of grasp. His small affections were still for her and only her, and for some reason all she need was a few simple words from him to make her feel as though all her jealousy suddenly vanished along with her thoughts of some other "special person" entering his life.

She was that person right now, and no words needed to be said because the simple twinkle of his sunset orbs told her all she needed to know leaving her smiling and happy.

"Yes Lord Sesshomaru," she said happily as he removed his hand from beneath her chin and began walking again all the while coxing her with his eyes to follow at his side.

Rin did just that, and all the more happily as well. She was soon walking by his side with him on her right and Ami to her left.

It was obvious there was odd tension between the two females, but Rin was glad Ami was mature enough not to make a big deal at the sudden intrusion. Rin decided she would later try her best to settle the tension between them and hopefully end up with a new friend instead of another Sue…. Well hopefully.

At the moment that didn't matter for Rin felt she was back where she belonged, and that was by Sesshomaru's side. She gave him a few simple glances and noticed the few he gave her from the corner of his eye.

He would much rather have Rin's pleasing company then the girl of a thousand stares looking at him for the far left staring at him yet again.

Somehow though the sight of Rin's warm smile calmed his nerves enough to allow them all to finally make it to the village only to have a familiar voice shout out Rin's name.

"Rin," Kohaku said as he ran to her with a flower in his hand.

"Kohaku," Rin said as she watched her friend run to her with his face as red as the rose he held in his hand. "What are you doing here?"

The young slayer stopped in front of the Rin and took a few deep breaths as his blush deepened.

After a long talk with his brother in law about how to get a woman's attention Kohaku had thought up of the plan to bring her flowers…or more like a flower.

"Here," he said quickly as he tried his best to put on a straight smile while he held up the rose to her. The sight of Sesshomaru and even Ami completely escaped his mind.

Rin's face also turned a bright red when presented with the sweet gift. "A rose?" she said as she took the gift with gentle hand as to not harm the delicate plant. "How did you get this?" she asked knowing finding one was hard enough in the spring or summer.

"I found it on a journey I made a while back. I put it in water and somehow it survived all this time despite all my nieces and nephews wanting to get to it." Kohaku laughed shyly and smiled even more when he saw Rin's eyes glow at the beautiful rose in her hands.

She couldn't remember ever holding one before because they were rare to find, especially in the autumn when plants were suppose to by on the verge of dying. So holding one for the first time in her life was very unique.

"D-Do you like it?" he asked finding himself choking on the thought of her answer.

"Yes," Rin said with a smile to match her red face. "It is beautiful, thank you," she said properly while bowing a little to show her thanks even more. "I will have to put it in water when I get back."

Kohaku smiled at hearing her answer and felt like jumping high into the air and do a double back flip. "I can assist you with that," he mentioned.

Off to the side no one noticed Ami's ach to the brow nor did anyone notice Jaken's huff of disgust.

Another thing that was failed to be noticed was Sesshomaru's quiet growls and slight twitch to his eye.

**AN: Puppies getting pissed lol That ends this chapter and as you can see Rin is not the only one getting jealous, but how Sesshomaru takes it you will have to just stay alert and find out XD Also it seems Sue isn't doing too hot either but what will happen when she is confronted with Rin or worse Sesshomaru.**

**All these questions and more will be answer in the next coming chapters but right now it is 4 in the morning and I am going to the nearest bed and falling asleep so goodnight all and till next time!**

**Comment if you like I would appreciate it!**


	10. Jealousy and Assumptions

**AN: This took me a while longer than I intended, but I didn't expect for it to be this long. I am happy for that though because there is a lot this chapter had to offer. You get clues to Sue's past as well as Sesshomaru's family history, but they are only tiny hints.**

**You will also get a few good rants about Sesshomaru's thoughts toward his jealousy and his feeling for Rin, but there is only so much stuff to fit into one chapter lol As far as Ami goes there is more to her character but you as the reader can either read "Confusing Choice" or wait till I explain her better as the story progresses, either way it is up to you.**

**Hope you all enjoy and please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters**

"Sue, it's getting late," stated the general as the sound of his deep voice brought his niece out of her day dream. Sue brought her head up; startled by the sound of her uncle's voice as she nodded in agreement. "Y-yes Sir," she replied.

The sun had long been forgotten, and was replaced with a white sky allowing the wind to pick up and brought back the atmosphere of autumn followed by the flutter of brown and orange leaves. Sue watched as a few leaves danced in front of her, and as a result of her mind wandering off again her fingers soon found their way into her bangs.

Her fingers tangled into her hair as she twisted and twirled them till it left her hair filled with silly knots, but she hardly even realized it.

"You're doing it again," the general mentioned. Sue jumped at his voice again, and gave him a puzzled look as he sighed from her lack of attention. "Your fingers," he hinted, and as soon as the young woman realized what she was doing she quickly released her hair only to bring her head down to hide her red stained skin.

"You'll end up pulling out all your hair if you keep that up," he teased as to relieve her of her embarrassment. "Nothing more than a bad habit that I need to cease from performing," Sue said as she scrunched her brows together to further prove her point on how she loather her previous actions.

"Nothing to be ashamed of, some people bite their nails while others can't keep still. You messing with your bangs is nothing more than a result of your mind wandering off or nerves racking up a storm."

Sue looked away not wanted to further the conversation of her habit, but as luck would have it her Uncle was not yet ready to end the conversation. "If I remember correctly your mother used to do that as well…"

"Which is precisely why I want to stop this foolish habit!" Sue interrupted; her late father's anger seeping through. The general gave his niece a hard glare pointing out who was able to yell at whom, and Sue picked up on his message as she brought her head down. "My apologizes for my outburst."

With a small node her Uncle brushed her anger off while he drew his horse closer to hers. After the short distance left them a mere few inches apart he layed his palm on his nieces shoulder. "If you ever hope to make your father's wish come true than you have to let go of your mother's past mistake."

"How can I ever forgive that woman…?" Sue whispered as she tensed up at the thought of her mother's betrayal. "Can you easily forgive all those demons that killed your brother?" Sue added, "Because I know I will never forgive them, and as soon as this "Killing Perfection" is destroyed we will finally create the world my father dreamed of."

Sue left the comfort of her uncle's grip, and galloped ahead to lead the army toward the village; her glare of hatred emitting from her black eyes. The general sighed deeply at her scorn, but knew sometimes that is just what made her stronger.

He easily caught up to her and took his spot ahead as he saw Sue's hands twitch. Each time she was losing sight of reality her hands would lean to her head, but she stopped them as soon as she realized what she was doing.

"What's on your mind?" he asked knowing she might stop her twitches if she talked. Black eyes met black eyes as Sue's gaze fell from her uncle's to the pocket satchel strapped on the horse's saddle.

The general looked to the satchel, "Is that picture still in your head?"

"I can't stop thinking about that image. I can't help but feel as though the demon we are searching for and that demon in the painting are connected." Sue's grip on the reigns of her horse tightened. "Do you suppose that Killing Perfection killed that demon in the painting? Did you ever hear the name of that demon general? Maybe they were allies at one time," Sue lost her breath at the end of her sentence as her Uncle's eyes widened at the amount of questions just given to him.

"One question at a time," he chuckled. "No, I do not know the name of that demon only that he was referred to as the general of the West. I do not know if he had any connection to Killing Perfection; perhaps they were allies, but if they were enemies it would only make sense how his demise came to be."

Sue nodded her head agreeing to her uncle's thoughts as she added on to their conversation. "Also, I have been wondering about the demise of the dog demon clan. You mentioned to me that there was a female demon that survived correct?"

The general nodded as he looked on ahead to the forest. "Correct, I heard from my grandfather that aside from the dog general a female also survived the clan's extinction."

"That's it?" asked Sue as her voice filled with curiosity. "No other's survived?"

Her uncle shrugged. "Sue I honestly can say I have no idea. I know for certain the dog general survived, and the female demon may have as well. There are also a lot of stories indicating other members surviving, but they may all just be rumors."

"Other members?" she repeated. "Like what kind of other members."

The general ducked his head from a low branch as she continued the conversation. "Well, I head once of an infant being born. I believe I mentioned it to you before."

"Oh, yeah," Sue said as she did recall her uncle saying something about a child, "The female dog demon's son?"

"I can only presume," he replied. "Not much was said about the infant. I don't even know if it even exists or maybe it died at birth."

"But what if it did exists," Sue mentioned as her thoughts began heading closer and closer in the right direction. "What about the father of the infant?"

"What, you think it was the dog general? Don't make hasty assumptions, I heard the only reason she escaped death was because she was given orders to escape from any confrontation of battle due to her condition. She was already heavy with child; it could have been any male from the clan that met his death in the extinction."

Sue sighed from the logical point and brought her head down. The perfect killer; walking freely around these lands and she did not have not even one lead on him. Sue thought about the image of the dog general as the descriptive information of Killing Perfection scrambled around in her thoughts only to be read out thoroughly in the contents of her mind.

The image of the painting containing the demon with _hair as white as snow_ and Sue also remembered seeing the touch of color added to the pupils as though the painter paid specific attention on the detail of his _burning ember eyes._

The main outlook of the demon was a perfect description to the one they were searching for aside from the tone of skin color on the painting being a little tanner than what was described of Killing Perfection, but it was only a paining after all.

"What kind of demon are we searching for?" Sue asked out of the blue. She heard her uncle chuckle at her question, taking it as innocently as it could have been presented. "Why, a powerful one of course."

Sue sighed as she let off an annoyed glare, "Yes, but what kind exactly?"

Once she got into specifics the general's thoughts and face tensed up. Such a question should have been at the top of their answers, but they did not have even that answer.

"Uncle?" repeated Sue when he did not respond the first time. "I…do not know…," he answered while trying his best to avoid eyes contact. As the older adult it was a shame to him that he was unable to answer her question. Their journey had begun 3 years ago, but that was no excuse to be so short on information.

The female warrior could sense the distress coming from him, and out of the desire to not want to bother her uncle with such petty thoughts she decided to give her own conclusion on the matter.

"Uncle…." Sue started off as she rode beside him to get his attention. "What if…what if it was a dog demon we were searching for…?"

The general gave her a look that could best be described as doubtful curiosity.

"I mean it uncle. The look of the demon in the picture matches to well to the description of the demon we are searching for. It may not be the same person, but wouldn't it only make sense for Killing Perfection to be a dog demon as well considering how powerful the dod general was not to mention they have the same hair and eye color."

"I told you the clan is extinct, and some demons tend to look the same."

"I know, but even you said there were rumors of members surviving."

"I am unsure of that Sue, and you know how I hate to trust rumors. I already have a hard time believing in Killing Perfection."

"But what if it isn't a rumor uncle? What if it is a dog demon we are searching for? Perhaps that female that escaped long ago had grown in power and….."

"Now you're talking nonsense," the general interrupted. "I highly doubt a female would gain so much power that would leave even the most terrifying demons trembling."

The general laughed a bit at the thought as Sue just sent him one of her secret dirty glares. To her uncle men were always more superior, and she hoped one day woman would rise up to be seen as equals instead of as second rate.

Sue listened on to her uncle's bitter laugh as he huffed from his little episode, "A female being that strong, next thing I know you're going to tell me that infant may as well….."

The sounds of hooves trotting was suddenly put to a stop as all the laughter breathed out into the air vanished to be replaced with an aura that sent chills down the two warriors arms. Their breath caught in their throats, and each stared at one another with the same thought in mind.

Black eyes molded into the black eyes Sue stared at, "Y-You don't think….." She could feel her stomach turning at the sudden thought of that infant; the infant born after the clan's demise.

"It was…never certain….We don't know for sure what…."

"And what if our assumptions are true!" argued Sue.

The general thought hard about what she just said as he didn't even realize the soldiers in the background becoming restless at all the recent holdups.

"The clan was destroyed hundreds of years ago…" he whispered.

"That infant would not be so little anymore," Sue stated as she felt a smirk tug at her lips. "If what we assume is correct, than I believe we just found the kind of demon we are looking for."

Sue's lips formed into a complete smirk; yet another piece added to the puzzle.

The wind became colder the closer the day ended. Usually this was the moment a pretty sunset would shine over the horizon, but the only orange color presented was the troop of leaves deciding to do battle against the harsh wind. To those who see the sun as something to smile about they would feel displeased at the light gray sky shrouding any ounce of sunlight trying to peep through.

The only bright sun color that was seen layed within the cold gaze of the demon lord who, despite his emotionless demeanor, actually found the cool wind pleasing as it ruffled against his silver tresses and allowed his bangs to glide across his crescent moon forehead.

His sun kissed eyes couldn't help but gaze at the simple wood hut that Rin entered not too long ago…as well as that slayer following after her.

Sesshomaru knew he could follow whether or not he was even welcome, but knowing Rin anyone was welcome in her home. He decided against it however, and simple choose to stay outdoors to keep his eyes away from the scene of Rin's happy smile shining on the gift _that boy_ decided to give her.

Sesshomaru was still not sure why but all of a sudden he found that human slayer to be a nuisance again, and this time it had nothing to do with Naraku.

"There," Rin finished as she gazed at her beautiful rose that now lay within a container full of water. "Do you think something else aside from a water container would suffice?" she asked as she looked to Kohaku standing off to her side.

The young man shook his head as he smiled to bring back the smile he so loved to see grace Rin's sunny face. "If you ask me I think it looks very becoming, and matches well with the rest of the room," he explained as he brought his hands out at arm's length to allow Rin a better look of her work as it stood on her low desk table in her shaggy village hut.

A beautiful rose lying within a simple bamboo water container; a sight not seen for such a beautiful flower deserved to be put in a fine vase. Although, considering her lifestyle and living conditions she would have to agree with Kohaku that the apple red rose actually fit nicely to give her hut that "homey" feel.

"You're right, thank you again Kohaku," she said as the whole place seemed to feel warmer when she smiled her sunny smile again. Even if it wasn't directed toward him Kohaku still felt his face heat up. He would definitely have to thank his brother in law for the very helpful advice.

_(Flashback Last Night)_

"_You have to woo her," Miroku stated as one of his children began falling asleep in his lap. "Woo her?" Kohaku knew what the expression meant, but as far as the next step he didn't even know where to begin. _

"_You know what I mean," Miroku said with his devilish smirk crossing his face as well as a twinkle shining in the corner of his eye. "Get her something that will knock her right off her feet. Presents are a shoo-in with the ladies."_

"_It this how you won Sango over?" the slayer asked curiously as Miroku chuckled. "Well perhaps not Sango, but back in my younger days before I your sister I was able to attract many ladies by…."_

_A clearing of the throat dragged Miroku's frightened eyes to stare at Sango's flaming ones indicating his sentence was cut short. "Well… that is not the point right now," he finished as he laughed nervously, "All I'm saying is that it is bound to work."_

"_But my situation is a bit more... complicated than that," Kohaku contradicted, and by "complicated" he meant it was very challenging and stressful to be up against a demon lord's wealth and status._

_Lord Sesshomaru could have anything he so desired, and by that it really mean Rin could have anything she so desired though he could not picture the kind woman asking for anything other than what she really needed._

_Kohaku knew he would have to go beyond the box to get something Rin would love as well as something Sesshomaru would not think of bringing her. As far a kimono goes; that was out of the question. Kohaku thought about jewelry, but knew Sesshomaru may have that gift already planned out as well as any kind of combs hair pieces or face powder._

"_Listen," Miroku said as his voice hit the highest pitch it could get with his son sleeping in his lap. "Are you just going to give up because you are a bit outnumbered in the ranking department? I thought you cared more for Rin than that."_

"_I-I do!" Kohaku argued followed by his hand covering his mouth to try and quiet down his voice. "I do brother, but I feel as though all the ideas have already been taken by you know who."_

"_Well think harder," Miroku replied as he pointed one finger in the air as if he was teaching the young man a lesson which in a way he was. "Remember money can't buy everything, and it certainly cannot buy love."_

"_Although it sure does play a major role…." Thought Kohaku as he let the darker side of life begin to get the better of him._

_His thoughts broke when he heard his two twin nieces come in through the door with blankets tucked around them like little eggrolls. They walked past their sleeping siblings making their way to their uncle and father._

"_Shouldn't you two be asleep," Miroku chided watching his two oldest daughters holding something in their hands. "We will soon father," one of them said before the other one allowed one of her arms to get free from the heavy blanket as she handed Kohaku the gift she concealed underneath._

"_For you, Uncle Kohaku," she said as she handed him a simple white flower that looked like it was already on the verge of dying from the cold weather. However, it was still a very sweet gesture, and he smiled a thank you back._

"_And one for you father," the other one said as she handed him a withered old flower as well. "For me," Miroku teased as he took it with great care. "Why you shouldn't have," he said as his girl laughed._

"_So does this mean we can stay up late?" they asked in unison with their innocent brown eyes turning soft on Miroku. "Not likely," Sango's voice interrupted, "It's getting late so come on now," she ordered softly before mentioning a bed time story._

_Their disappointment vanished at the mention of a story, and after they nodded and said their goodnight they followed after their mother._

"_Sweet little thing aren't they," Miroku stated before picking up his son to put him to bed as well._

"_They sure are," Kohaku added before staring at the dead flower in front of him. _

_Such a simple little thing was able to pull of such a sweet gesture. _

"_That's it!" he thought before getting on his feet with an idea sprouting in his head._

_(End Flashback)_

"Sesshomaru," Ami called out from her spot below the red wooden structure standing beside a stone staircase. "Why don't you come down from there?"

The demon prince lay perched at the very top of the wooden structure with one leg dangling off the side while the other one was bent to support his right arm as his whole upper body leaned against that bent leg. A perfect little spot for him to be within nose and earshot of Rin, but also a place to escape lady talks a lot down below and finding some sort of peace with the cold weather.

"Sesshomaru," Ami shouted only to be ignored by him again, and instead got yet another lecture on how it was "LORD Sesshomaru!" from the green shivering imp behind her.

She almost wanted to chuckle on how even though she was annoyed that he had yet to say even one word to her his silent distant self was only creating an image in her head of a stubborn cat unwilling to come down from a tree.

Or in his case a dog, but by how much he preferred to be in taller places at the moment he may as well act more like a cat; a very feisty cat that would love to scratch her eyes out at the moment she bet.

Ami noticed a glare sent down to her almost as if Sesshomaru picked up on her thoughts and she quickly evaded his gaze to laugh nervously off to the side to try to conceal what she just imagined.

Sesshomaru brushed off Ami's strange look knowing she was thinking something if he could feel his ears burning, and knew if anyone was thinking about him…it certainly wasn't Rin.

He noticed she and Kohaku had yet to come out of the hut, and all he could think about was how happy she was when the young man gave her that rose. Her smile shined with a certain happiness he thought only he was allowed to see, but it seemed now that wasn't the case.

A rose; a beautiful yet simple flower he could have picked by the dozen if he wanted to. He knew where they grew most, and he knew where the ones of different colors grew as well. Is that all it took to make her happy; a simple gift such as a flower?

Or maybe, he thought, was it instead the giver that made her bright smile form on her cheerful face. Was she happy because of her gift, or because Kohaku was the one who gave her the gift.

_What does it matter?_

He knew the girl was not his property, to demons the mere thought of owning humans was a disgrace and only proved that you must have to have been the weakest of the weak if all you could conquer was human slaves.

_However she…is no slave._

She was not a servant, and she was most certainly no slave which is precisely the reason why he decided not to interfere with the _other_ company Rin was receiving. He had no control over her, and knew if she desired to be in the presence of another man he had no right to intervene.

It was none of his business anyway.

_And yet…why?_

Why could he not get the image of Rin's smile out of his head? That happy carefree smile that left him feeling things in his heart he never knew even existed in that black hole of his. The thought of someone else seeing that smile; to have him thinking about it over and over again was proof enough that he was not in his usual state of mind right now.

He did not know what he was making such a fuss about; it was not as if Rin didn't smile at anybody else.

Rin's gentle character couldn't even pluck the soft pedals from a fresh spring flower much less refrain herself from shining a cute smile at every creature that walked by her. Her bright personality brought her up to be kind and friendly which allowed a smile to grace her face to anyone despite their outer appearance or demeanor. She smiled at everyone, and everything.

_Even me…_

Whatever foul feeling that lurked within his mind indicating that Kohaku's gift giving was a bad thing only spreading till it hit his chest area.

He was angry….

He would much rather have seen Rin reject the gift and walk back to him with a smile, and instead the situation was the exact opposite. He wanted for Rin to do something completely out of her character and turn away from a kind gesture, but even he knew he was thinking nonsense.

What or who exactly was he angry with? Was it Rin, was it her actions, or perhaps was it more with the whole situation?

The whole situation became a more convincing answer, and he would rather be angry at that then the girl who had the heart to warm the cold hands of a cold hearted creature like himself while presenting to him all her worry that he felt he did not deserve.

Rin's kind gestures and simple touches; no one else ever bothered to even get close to him, not that he wanted them to, much less shower him with a gentle caress to the cheek or warm embrace in the not so warm weather.

He was either respected feared or hated, and there are even those who found his person too inspiring they felt they were not worthy to be in the presence of one such as him which to Sesshomaru…good riddance.

Rin, however, neither hated not feared him. She always gave him her utmost respect while, without him knowing, if he asked her to do anything she would comply without a second thought.

Sesshomaru was not dense nor was he too foolish to not notice the way the girl acted around him. On the other hand he did not quite comprehend the human heart nor did he really have any desire to.

Rin cared for him though, that much he knew for sure.

And he could not lie to even himself when he admitted in the softest place in his heart that…he cared for her as well.

The words have never and perhaps maybe never will leave his lips; the whole thought just could not click right in his head, but he knew it was true.

Although, his actions spoke out all the words that needed to be said when he would rather her life be out of harm's way even if it meant putting his own life in danger. And if ever a time comes when Rin was hurt he blamed no other but himself.

It was that fact right there that he knew he had developed feeling for the young woman, but the whole concept of fear and sadness was still so fresh to him. He had only scratched the surface of the so called feeling known as "compassion" and it was now only up to him if he wanted to go a little further into the feeling and see where it takes him.

Whether Sesshomaru knew it or not, his new found jealousy was about to take in further onto a bridge of human emotions that demons like him would be ashamed of having. However if Rin was the one waiting for him on the other side of that jumbled bridge than…it just may be worth it to give it to try crossing.

"My Lord don't you think you have been up there long enough?" Jaken asked before a sharp rock knocked him off his feet and tumbling toward the ground.

Ami couldn't help but laugh at the imp's failure while Sesshomaru knew Jaken was only asking for it since the imp disturbed his deep thoughts. With a stubborn "Hmm" he turned his head away and continued to sit where he so pleased, and that was away from everyone else.

Nightfall had blackened the sky to leave the moon shrouded by a misty fog while the cold night spread from village hut to village hut.

"How's Lady Kaede?" Kohaku asked when Rin returned to her room to see a warm bowl of hot strew centered between a smiling Kohaku as well as a hungry looking Ami who sat beside an annoyed looking Jaken.

"She is resting now," Rin replied. "I've had her stay in these past few days to make sure she doesn't get ill like many of the other elderly already have."

"I thought the old priestess was already sick?" Jaken asked which left Rin scowling at him for bringing up that certain piece of information. "She has not been her best these past few weeks, but I guarantee she will get better." At least that is what Rin hoped.

"Soooo your name is Ami right?" Kohaku asked trying to bring up a lighter conversation. Ami's gaze went from the delicious looking stew to the young man who held no comparison to the beautiful creature whom had been ignoring her for the past while to instead rather sit on a red piece of wood outside in the cold.

Ami was almost reluctant to leave him, but the night was chilly and the smell of hot stew drew her into the hut as well as Jaken who was just happy not to have been turned into a frozen ice sculpture.

"My name is none of your concern," Ami replied back as she stuck her nose high in the air. Kohaku felt his sweat drop, a few second into knowing her and already he did not like her. A simple child…that is all she was no matter if she seemed more in her teenage years.

She was younger than Rin so it would only make sense to have a young adolescent teen acting like they owned everything and everyone.

Rin laughed nervously realizing the conversation were not the happiest, but at that moment she only had one thing on her mind.

"Say, where's Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Outside," Jaken answered with a grumpy tone escaping his beak. "I've told him to come inside, but he won't listen," Ami added.

"Lord Sesshomaru would never enter the contents of some human home. It is utterly distasteful!" Jaken whined.

"But you're here," Ami replied. "That is beside the point!" the imp complained against the girl's smart tongue.

While the two were at it again Rin took it as her chance to escape the hut through the door while Kohaku tried to calm down the fighting duo.

Once Rin felt the cold wind hit her back she knew she was outside, and as an outcome of the cold weather hitting her she blew warm air into her palms. Her eyes scanned the surrounding of the village. Even though it was dark she was still able to see a few things, and she saw just about everything there was to see at night except for Sesshomaru.

She sighed deeply, and then felt her spirits lift when she decided to check the red post she found him sitting on every once in a while. Her head looked up in hope and…he was not there either.

Yet again she sighed as she felt her eyebrows move upward in an obvious display of her disappointment. He was gone…

She turned on her heels to head back inside while she suddenly felt the need to stop and let out the sting of tears that threatened to fall.

"What's wrong with me?" she thought as she brought her hand up to her eyes. She felt water beginning to form in the corners, and she quickly whipped them clean. She knew it was silly of her to cry, but..."Why?" she thought.

Why did he not tell her he was leaving? She would not have objected to it at all, but she knew he did not have to tell her. He always told her however, so why did he just leave now….especially when she was hoping to spend a little more time with him.

Rin even noticed Kohaku may have taken some of that time away, but how could she be mean to him after he went out of his way to give her a gift. Kohaku was hardly even considered part of her worries though.

Sue, a woman who intended to take Sesshomaru from her to see to it that he was killed. Ami, a young teen who seemed that she wanted to take Sesshomaru from her to simply have him all to herself. Two different females that left Rin feeling two different kinds of ways, but ever since they came into the picture Rin found that she had yet to spend a full day with her lord, and when he visited that is all she ever wanted.

Just to be with him; get closer to him.

She did not want him to leave after the short amount of time she got to spend with him. She was hoping to take a nice stroll with him in the forest and point out to him all the leaves she was able to identify since she was a child. Or maybe, if luck may have it, they could have spent some time in her hut. She knew it was not fit for someone like him, but if she could share just one cup of tea with him she would be happy for thh rest of the season.

"Lord Sesshom…" Rin felt tears beginning to rise again.

Rin walked the rest of the way till she was a few steps from the door until a loud "You!" hit her ears. Rin jumped at the shout and turned her head to see the last person she wanted to see that night.

"You lied to me!" the voice shouted out as the figure made its way from the shadows of the village. Hair as dark as the shadows flowed past eyes that held just as much black scorn as the woman's heart did.

"S-Sue Lee," Rin stuttered as she backed up against her hut.

Now what was she suppose to do?

**AN: Oh Rin, what will you do now? Sesshomaru where did you run off to? **

**Ok so I know the Christmas season has started, but I do not want to start another story before finishing this one so I am thinking about a good 2 more chapters and then I will bring out Sesshomaru and Rin's first winter together which I smell a whole lot of fluff lol**

**First thing is first though, and that is settling down this drama so stay alert to see what happens next and seeing if Sesshomaru ever returns and if he has to end up fighting the whole demon assassin army. Wouldn't that make Rin happy? **

**Anyway thanks a bunch for reading I hope you enjoyed and please leave a comment if you like I would appreciate it! Till next time!**


	11. Blood Stained

**AN: Well my finals are this week so you can imagine how hard it is to write essays for class and not get warped into my story, but lucky I found time this weekend to write it before all my tests next week boo T.T I wonder if this is how Kagome feels….well I actually have time to study lol Anyway here you go after this chapter I believe I will try to finish up so please enjoy and R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters**

"Sue what are you….?"

"It's Sue Lee," she quickly corrected as her feet approached Rin by every word she spoke. Her dark black eyes alone were enough to make Rin back up against her hut, but when she began to speak in that harsh tone of hers Rin's hands went from dry and cold to hot and sweaty.

"I….." Rin felt at loss for words. She knew exactly why Sue was there, and what's worse was that Rin could not blame the woman for being angry. However, what was done was done and Rin would do it all over again to keep Sesshomaru from facing any conflict.

_At least he's not here._

If push came to shove and Sesshomaru felt no mercy toward the woman then Rin could already see Sue's head lying on a platter. Rin did not want that to happen even if the woman before her left nothing more than a bad taste in her mouth. Rin just hoped she could talk her way out of this one and be ride of Sue forever.

"Sue…"

The glare form Sue deepened, and Rin flinched.

"I-I mean Sue Lee…listen I know that…."

"Did you think that I wouldn't return?" she snapped while taking an extra step toward Rin. "Did you think I would not catch onto your lie?"

Her tone was so loud and rough Rin was surprised no one had yet to come out of their huts will all the commotion Sue was creating; especially Inuyasha. Did this woman honestly intend to start confrontation in the middle of the night, and worse in the middle of this peaceful village Rin liked to call home?

_She's insane…_

"Well!" Sue shouted causing Rin to flinch again though this time she actually found the right words to reply. "I….I couldn't just let you go killing demons without knowing if they truly deserved to die or not," Rin answered as her eyes switched from the ground the scar on Sue's face.

"Deserve to die," Sue repeated. "Every one of those filthy creatures deserves to die!" Sue's hand went to the handle on her sword as she kept up with her speech. "I don't know why you would risk your life to protect those creatures."

The reality of the situation hit Rin harder then she imagined. She was already prepared to be yelled at as well as the constant hurtful words she knew were going to be thrown at her, but this… "Are…are you saying you are going to harm me because of what I said?" Rin asked as her eyed widened at the thought of Sue even thinking of hurting her, "You're going to hurt me, a human?"

The sharp blade was revealed and Rin saw her reflection as Sue slide the sword up and out of its sheath as the tip was soon pointed in Rin's direction.

"You associate yourself with demons," she stated as she brought the sword up ready to strike, "And as such you deserve to die as well!" The blade swung down only to slice through thin air. "What?" Sue wondered as she looked to the ground where she should have sliced the girl down.

By the sound of harsh breathing Sue's gaze moved to her side to see a gasping Rin sprawled on the ground with her hand on her heart. "I will have to admit that was impressive," she complimented, "most demons were unable to dodge that attack, but I see you have managed."

Rin felt her heart race like speeding stallion. She had never felt so close to her death as she did then, and that included the other two times she experienced her soul leaving her body. Her eyes were still wide and even she was surprised that she was able to dodge such a fast attack. Sango's training really did come in handy, and it would prove to be more useful if only she had a weapon.

Rin watched as Sue approached her again with her blade hovering over Rin's quivering form. "I can't believe you would do this," Rin said. "To kill your own kind…What would your uncle think of this? What about your people, your parent what would they…"

"My parents are none of your concern!" she spat; obviously displaying the nerve Rin knew she just struck. "You've been nothing more than a nuisance since the moment we met, and once your finished no one will get in my way again!" Sue swung her blade only to have Rin roll quickly to her side with her feet working fast in order to try and trip Sue by striking her legs with her feet.

The attack was dodged as Sue jumped back with her sword still in hand. "I never figured one as fragile as you could possess fighting skills," she said as she took her fighting stance once again. "But you have yet to master any skills other than dodging, and defense can only get you so far."

Sure enough Sue was right. Each attack Rin was barely able to dodge aside from losing a few strands of hair. She was even able to block one attack with a piece of firewood, but it was only sliced in half in the process of the attack so it was of no use after.

_I don't know how long I can keep this up….What should I do? Call Sesshomaru? No, I don't want him to get involved in this….but if I don't I will no doubt be the one getting killed…AND I'LL NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN!_

Her last thought was all she needed to be convinced, but time was not on her side for before she could even open her mouth Rin felt a pain shoot up her leg. She landed on the ground barely even realizing Sue kicked her feet, and all Rin could see was a blade being swung her way.

_~~~xox~~~_

To be seated in a room full of people just didn't cut being on his list of already limited social skills. He much rather preferred sitting on top of that ridiculous red structure outside than be in a tight spaced room full of people he deemed highly distasteful; well not including Rin though she was outnumbered compared to that annoying girl plus Kohaku and his already annoying servant.

The icy prince knew his night was going to be filled with warm air evaporating from his mouth along with the endless view of the millions of stars, and he was satisfied with just that.

Never once though, did he expect to catch a familiar human scent rushing to the village. A scent filled with the smell of metal and the copper of demons blood drenched over dirty armor. He recognized this scent; it filled his nose when he focused his attention on that pathetic army who had hopes of doing him in.

By the scent he could recognize there to only be one coming his way, and to him it mattered not that the one approaching him was female. The only question now was what course of action he should take.

Killing the pest now would only cause the entire army to attack, but getting rid of them should be no easier than taking care of the woman. He could bring this whole thing to an end, but at the cost he would be contradicting Rin's desire to have no conflict brought up from the situation.

What she was thinking was foolish, but he felt it was a waste telling her that. Either way there was going to be a fight started from all this sooner or later, and someone was going to be killed. That someone was not going to be him; he would rather die at the hands of his meaningless brother than at the hands of pathetic mortals.

Sesshomaru jumped from his post to land softly on the ground, and his eyes went to the hut where he could smell food and hear all the different conversations that went on. His clawed white gloved hand brought out bakuseiga ready to kill and be done with this needless fight.

To kill a human was hardly worth a challenge for him, and when he repeated that in his mind he re-sheathed his sword to rely on his claws which were more than enough to finish the job. Golden ember eyes set their gaze in the direction the woman was coming from, but his other senses lied elsewhere.

While his ears should have been listening to the warrior's footsteps he instead heard all the laughter and talk coming from each one of the huts. He heard the sounds of father's talking to sons about something Sesshomaru found unimportant while mothers talked to their daughters about things the dog lord also found unimportant.

He could smell the peaceful aura that emitted from each household as every resident of the village grew completely unaware of the violence he was about to cause that night. What should it matter to him of all people that is village somehow got involved? However, that did not stop his sensitive hearing from picking up all sorts of sounds coming from the huts.

He heard laughter, he heard lullabies, and he even heard the peaceful sleep coming from the younger ones who have already entered the dream world.

"Hmm," he heard escaping his mouth. His claws retraced and he brought his arm down to his side. As far as what he would admit the village would only get in his way. If anyone heard all the noise they will only be a bother to him.

"Where is Lord Sesshomaru?" he heard. He looked to the hut automatically recognizing the voice to be Rin's. If that woman were to ever spot Rin with him she will only see Rin as a threat, and he refused to let that happen.

He could end this all now, so why didn't he? Why didn't he shed blood like he was so used to doing in the past? What was so different now?

The vision of Rin and her warm embrace filled his head to the point he could almost feel her body heat again. What was she doing to him, he thought. It never occurred to him how many times he had killed making sure she was nowhere around to see him be the killer he was, or how he never fought meaningless battles ever since she stepped into his life.

What was she doing to him?

His limited bottle of emotions popped open in his head only to leave his with what he would only describe as a splitting headache. He did not want to fight; not here and not now. He will have that whole army at his feet another time.

With his mind set Sesshomaru leaped into the forest hoping to take a look on whom exactly was after him. He was not a demon of hiding, but to further his knowledge of his opponent he found he could live with it. With his stance perched upon a large branch the dog lord studied the surroundings waiting for the woman to arrive until he picked up more of the same stench coming from a good distance north of the village.

"So the army isn't far is it?" he stated to himself. With one last glance to the village Sesshomaru turned on his heels to head in the direction of the rest of the demon assassins. Compared to one weak mortal an entire army was far more worth his observation.

What Sesshomaru was unaware of was the danger he was leaving Rin in.

_~~~xox~~~_

Rin opened her eyes wondering why she had yet to feel anything, but of course with death she knew it came so quick sometimes you felt no pain. What she saw didn't surprise her in the least, but she still gasped at her savior.

"Kohaku," Rin whispered as she saw his weapon blocking off Sue's attack. His eyes scanned over Rin to make sure she was alright until he then focused on her attacker. "I thought the head priestess warned you not to be starting any fights around here," he confronted as Sue jumped back from the pair.

"You're a demon slayer," she stated, "Why protect her? Why protect demons? That should go against all your morals!"

"The way of a demon slayer is to not kill every demon in existence. It is to keep the peace and destroy any who have brought trouble. We believe there to be good demons out there; a lesson which you should learn."

Sue was taken aback by his words, but none would sink into her head. "And as for Rin," Kohaku knew his face was turning red, "I won't let you hurt her either."

If it had been a brighter moment Rin would have smiled at his words, but at the moment she only settled with standing behind him for protection. "Where's Ami?"

"I told her to stay inside with Jaken," he answered as his hand kept her from getting too close. "Sorry it took me so long. I would have been here sooner, but I had to keep Kaede away from seeing anything."

"Where's Sesshomaru," he asked, and a bit too loud for Rin saw Sue's eyebrow arch only a tad. Rin griped Kohaku's arm to let off some sort of warning, and Kohaku soon realized his mistake and only hope Sue didn't hear all that well.

"He's gone," Rin whispered, and he nodded in return. "Good, it's best he isn't here right now."

"I can hear every word you two love doves are whispering over there," she shouted," and if this Sessh...whatever is another one of your demon loving friends than I should consider him next on my list?"

"You leave him out of this!" Rin shouted back as Kohaku's face went bright red as he chanted, "Love doves…"

Sue gripped the handle of her sword as she began to sprint toward the pair, and Kohaku pushed Rin out of the way to block the attack. His massive demon weapon was much stronger than her simple sword, and by a good push he knocked her weapon out of her hands.

"I heard about those special weapons of yours," she said as she cracked her knuckled. "But of course the heavier the weapon the slower the user," she said as she charged at him at a speed he didn't even know humans can reach.

"She's fast!" Rin said as she saw Sue sprint around Kohaku fast enough to have his head spinning. Once she saw an open spot Kohaku felt his right cheek bone crushed by a hard powerful fist. The blow was enough to have him move to his side a bit, but he was still standing.

"I've noticed most men here study the art of swordsman ship, but back where I come from we focus more on martial art," she explained as her feet and palms took a peculiar stance.

Kohaku whipped the blood from his mouth as he readied his weapon again. He did not want to kill her, but if he had no other choice than he simple had no other choice.

"Kohaku are you alright," Rin asked and was replied with a simple nod and a "Stay back." She felt so terrible; she wanted to assist him so bad. Although she also knew that by compare she stood absolutely no chance against Sue, and it was best just to stay out of the way and only watch.

And watch she did. Rin saw every kick Sue made to ever block and swing Kohaku countered. Each were equally matched in skill. While Kohaku wasn't very fast he was strong enough to block Sue's kicks and punches while Sue on the other hand was very fast, but her speed was not enough for his strength.

The battle went on and soon Rin noticed a considerable amount of men had retreated from their homes to see what all the commotion was about.

"Not good," Rin thought as she saw the men starting to gather their tools and spears. "Kohaku," Rin warned as he blocked another one of Sue's kicks. "I know I know," he replied before he brought his face close to his opponents.

"Look at what we're starting," he said as he held her back. "We don't need the village to get involved with this so let's continue this someplace else."

"Another difference between us," Sue mentioned before she punched him again square in the face. "I could care less what these humans do. If you are all smart you will cease getting in my way!" she warned them all, but as men they refused to be talked down to by a woman.

"Why that wench," one of them growled while other agreed and joined in before they all began to charge in Sue's direction.

"No wait stop!" Rin shouted as she tried her best to control them all. She held a few back for they knew her and trusted her judgment, but the more stubborn of the men ran right past her. "STOP!" Rin shouted only to have a flash of red speed past her and stop in front of the crowd of men.

"I-Inuyasha," Rin said in relief, but as she studied him more the bloody body he held in his arm only caused her to gasp in horror. "If you men know what's good for you then you all will go back to your homes and forget this ever happened," he warned as he cracked his knuckled, "this had nothing to do with ya'll so go before I get really angry."

Inuyasha's temper was always spread throughout the village, and no man wanted to be near it so the village men actually decided to go with his word and began leaving the scene.

"Thank you," Rin said as the half demon shrugged his shoulder. "Don't mention it," he said before he looked to Sue who glared at him with the same angry gaze her uncle gave him. "And you," he growled which caught her attention.

"I believe this belongs to you," he said as he dropped the wounded soldier by her feet. Sue gasped in shock when she realized it came from her army, and she forgot all about the battle for a minute to inspect the soldier's face.

"Yei," she gasped as the soldier coughed up some blood. "Sue…," he said through a hoarse voice and bloody mouth. "Sue...it's your uncle," he said before he fell into a fit of coughs and gags.

"My uncle," she repeated. "What about him, what's happened where is everyone?" she asked before the solder before her went limp in her lap. "YEI!" she shouted while Rin ran up to her. "Let me have a look at him," she said while Sue gave her a confusing glare.

Rin checked the pulse through his neck and wrist, and felt his chest. "He's still alive, but only barely," Rin concluded before Sue looked at Inuyasha with tears forming in her eyes. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" she shouted.

"Hey don't think I did any of this. I was on my way over here before I found this guy wounded in the forest. You should be happy that I even bothered to bring him here."

"You can't tell what happened?" Kohaku asked as he inspected his wounds. "The smell of blood is blocking out all the other scents on him." "And there are just gashes all over his body. Who knows what could have happened," Kohaku then added.

Sue watched helplessly as her fellow soldier was on the verge of death while Rin finished her inspection. "He's badly hurt, but there is still time to save him. Kohaku, do you think you can get this man to Kagome please?" The request brought Sue to look at Rin in shock. She nearly killed the girl, and she was going to help her. Sue wondered if she was stupid or just had a very kind heart.

"Yeah sure," Kohaku said as Inuyasha helped get the man on his back. After some balance and maneuver on his part Kohaku was able to walk with the bloody man on his back.

"Will he be ok?" Sue asked. "He will be Kagome knows a little more about herbs than I do….you really care about your army don't you?"

"…Shut up," she replied which caused Rin to back away some. Rin laughed a bit to ease the tension till she noticed Inuyasha was sniffing the air.

"Inuyasha?"

"Blood," he stated with eyes facing the direction he could pick it up from, "and lots of it."

"Blood," Sue repeated, "is it the army?"

"I don't know for sure but…Hey!" Both Rin and Inuyasha watched as Sue began to run in the direction Inuyasha was facing. "Stupid," he mentioned before grabbing Rin and hoisting her up and onto his back.

"You want me to go to?" she asked; completely shocked that he would want her to get involved. "Normally I wouldn't, but not only can I smell blood but…."

"But… what," Rin urged on, "What is it?"

"I…I can smell Sesshomaru too," he whispered. "What….," Rin whispered as her eyes grew to become the size of saucers followed by her brows arching up. "Y-you don't think…."

"That's what we're going to find out." With that said Inuyasha's speed increased as he began to leap from tree to tree.

_~~~xox~~~_

Sue wasn't sure where she was heading or if she was even going in the right direction, but either way she kept running at the highest speed her 15 years of training allowed her to reach. From up hills to over large roots growing from the sides of trees she ran past every obstacle the forest had to offer somehow sensing she was getting closer and closer to her destination.

After what seemed like an eternity of running she finally leaned against a tree with her eyes burning to spill tears, but as a warrior she refused to show any. All she wanted now was to see her uncle and army safe and sound.

After a long inhale Sue began to run again only to feel her collar being tugged roughly by something speeding through the forest. "Well well it seems that even you tire out," Inuyasha commented as Sue tried to escape his grasp by struggling like a toddler. "Look I know where to go so stop struggling and soon we will all get there," he ordered before lifting her down a little for her to see a good 30 foot drop," unless you really want me to let go?"

Sue let out a rough grunt as she allowed herself to be pulled by the half demon while Rin's eyes never left Inuyasha's silver white hair.

Though it was different in its own way when Rin saw it she could only think of Sesshomaru.

_Where are you? _

"Were close," Inuyasha stated as Rin and Sue felt his body begin to get lower and lower till all three of them popped out of the bushes to be presented with the sight that made even Inuyasha gasp in horror while Rin and Sue both felt the need to cry but for two different reasons.

There presented to their gaze was the entire assassin army lying dead in puddles of their own blood as Sue recognized her uncle to be lying in the very center of the field along with a demon that had long white hair and dressed in fur hovered over him with the sight of blood displayed all over his cloths.

"S…Sessh…." Rin felt her eyes burn at the sight of seeing her lord in the middle of the battlefield with his hands stained with human blood. "No," she whispered as she saw him turn to look in her direction. "No, he wouldn't….." Rin was suddenly hit with the vision of his true demon form; a form displaying blood red eyes as well as fangs ready for the kill. Everything he told her about himself suddenly filled her mind.

"_I am a demon Rin, and as such I do and think differently than your kind."_

She remembered him saying that long ago when she had told him she needed to stay in the village longer to look after Kaede, but never once did she ever understand his words will now.

Seeing him stained with blood while standing in the middle of a hundred bloody corpses.

"_A beast whose only purpose in life is killing the weak and innocent."_

What Sue had mentioned before was starting to come back.

"_It has slaughtered human after human without any sign of remorse, and has caused more bloodshed then war itself."_

"Lord Sesshomaru," she whispered as a single tear fell from her cheek. "No," she chocked. She didn't want to believe it. He had more control than this, she knows he does. When Rin saw Sesshomaru's eye widen in surprise at seeing her Rin felt more tears about to spill until…

"IM GOING TO KILL YOU!" SUE screamed as she charged at Sesshomaru not even realizing the demon she's been searching for was right in front of her. All she could feel was anger and hatred as well as tears falling from her own eyes as she ran toward him without even one weapon in hand.

"NO!" Rin screamed as she chased after Sue while Inuyasha followed in the process.

_You have more control than this…you weren't responsible for all of this…_

"Sue, leave him alone!" Rin couldn't take her eyes off Sesshomaru's blood stained armor and cloths_._

_Right…Lord Sesshomaru? _

**AN: Oh the drama I can create at 5 in the morning lol I think that is a good place to stop, but the next chapter should be up very soon considering I am looking forward to writing my next story but of course I don't want to leave this one without an ending so I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and stay alert to see what happens next. Is Rin right or will she just have to face facts that the demon she has fallen for has and always will be a cold ruthless killer ( I like him that way sometimes though XD) anyway its late so I am going to get some much needed sleep. **

**Thanks for reading and please leave a comment if you can I would appreciate it!**


	12. Secrets Revealed and a Heart to Heal

**AN: First off I just want to thank everyone for all the comments left so far every single one has been read which helped me create this chapter and I appreciate all the support =)**

**This chapter is longer than the others which is why it took longer to post up, but after much reading I am finally satisfied. We are near the ending of this story, but there is one more chapter left that I will start working on as soon as I can because I can't wait to post up my winter fic. But this story comes first so I hope you all enjoy it and please R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.**

"Sue stop," Rin shouted with her hand reaching out to try and sustain the mad woman, but she felt it was too later when Inuyasha pulled her back.

Sue had managed to get close enough to Sesshomaru to try and attack with her bare hands alone. The anger and pain that spread throughout her heart had caused her mind to haze to the point where she hardly knew what she was doing, and is she had paid more attention she would have realized who the demon before her really was.

Everything happened in a quick blur. One moment Sue thought she had a decent grip on the killer of her army, and the next moment the woman found herself landing painfully on the ground with her mind hardly comprehending how she was even flung into the air in the first place. The pain that stung her back and wobbled her legs was hardly considered worth stopping, she thought, and after a few seconds she was back on her feet.

She began to charge yet again with the same anger and hatred pouring out along with the tears in her eyes, but this time she found that she couldn't even land a decent punch. Every punch or kick her target dodged as though her speed and power was that of a snail's, and he seemed to disappear and reappear with every other dodge.

Almost as if he was toying with her.

Sue yelled out of frustration before she felt her body being flung again into the air only to land with an impact hard enough to severally injure any normal human.

The wind was below freezing thanks to the moonless night mixed autumn weather, but the blood boiling in Sue's body caused her to barely notice and soon she was back on her feet along with a few new cuts and bruises. What she did begin to notice though was the massive amount of weapons spread out on the battle field; each sword or spear caked with blood ready for her choosing.

Each weapon looked inviting, but the one laying by her uncle's dead body is what attracted her the most. It wasn't till she grabbed hold of her uncle's spear that she began to notice who exactly was responsible for it all. For once she got a good look as Sesshomaru, and this time her mind was able to focus on every detail he had to offer.

Hair and skin as white as the moon itself, and the burning pools of ember flames igniting deep within his eyes was all it took for Sue to completely forget, for even a split second, what was going on.

She wanted to laugh, and in fact she did hear herself chuckle just a bit causing for an elegant lord-like brow to arch in wonder. "It's funny," Sue started off as she took another look at her dead army. "Earlier today I would have given anything to find you…" the grip on her uncle's spear tightened. "If I had known this was to be the consequence…I would have never even begged my uncle to begin the search."

Sue brought her head down, and Sesshomaru did nothing more than simply stare at her as though he was curious as to what she had to say next. Or perhaps he felt that being the one having to do all the attacking was a waste of his most precious time.

"I imagined this day for a long time," she continued. "However, if things had gone differently I would have been here with my army and we-"

"You would have suffered the same fate as they," he added, not really knowing why he bothered to open his mouth in the first place. His words brought Sue's face up with her eyes wide in shock from what he said as well as hearing the sound of his deep voice. For a demon she never expected for his voice to sound so smooth.

"S-SHUT UP!" she shouted, completely ignoring the tightening of his glare. "Why the hell should I listen to you, especially since you're the one responsible for all this you…you MONSTER!"

With the last word to her sentence spoken Sue began to charge with her uncle's staff in hand, and the urge to kill written all over her face. The closer she got the more she noticed the demon made no move to stop her, and when she felt she was a good distance from him she brought her weapon up and ready to strike.

One flick of a magenta striped wrist and Sesshomaru sent Sue flying a couple of yards back with his intentions fully set on attacking her more head on if she were to try the same poor tactic again.

Sue landed face first into the blood coated dirt, with the addition a few new bruised and cuts added to her face. If she went on any longer her face was bound to look like a blue berry, and she wasn't sure how much more of this she could take. Her once neatly braided black hair was now a tangled mess with the hair tie long forgotten to leaver her black locks falling all over the place in a tumbled mess.

Her lungs were sore to the point where she felt her breathing was on overdrive, and not only did her legs burn like heated iron but she was more than positive the impact of the falls had caused her left arm to break.

"Stop already Sue!" Rin protested as she ran in front of Sesshomaru with her hopes riding on Sue's heart as well as her common sense telling her to do what's right. Sue turned her head to see the same foolish girl from before standing between her and the demon, and the glare she sent Rin was even dirtier than it was when they first met.

Even Sesshomaru was a bit surprised that Rin had yet to leave. She must have known that he needed no assistance, and after her witnessing the blood of humans covering his hands he was expecting her to run off with the fear of seeing him again. Instead she stood by his side.

"You…" Sue felt her already harsh breathing increase at the sight of Rin shielding the demon from her view. What a foolish foolish girl she was, Sue thought. "Why…," Sue whispered catching Rin's full attention. "Why are you…Why are you defending him?"

Rin blinked at the woman's response, "Huh?" Of all the words to be spoken Rin was expecting to hear a bunch of other rude nonsense shouted at her, but instead she is given a simple question. A question with the most obvious answer, but for some reason Rin found the words stuck in her throat.

"Can you not see what he has done here?" Sue stated as her hands spoke for themselves when they presented Rin with all the lifeless bodies laying over the red stained grass and dirt, and the very blood of those soldiers covering Sesshomaru's hands and armor.

"Y-you don't even know what happened," Rin replied quietly.

"And I suppose you do," Sue spat back. Rin brought her head down because as far as she knew she didn't know what really happened either. Perhaps her lord really did kill all these men, but by no surprise to her she decided to stay be his side. If he was indeed the killer then just like the fact that he was a demon she knew it was something she would have to accept, but now she only hoped he had his reasons.

"Stand back Rin," Sesshomaru calmly ordered at which, despite her want to go against him, Rin did as she was told and hid well behind his arm. She cringed at the sight of his sleeve decorated with the spatter of blood, but never the less she still felt safe and protected where she was.

"So… it seems you both know each other," Sue observed realizing the obvious fact when the demon said the girl's name as though he had whispered that simple little name dozens of times before, and the sound of his voice was still hard for her to get used to.

It was deep and commanding, but held a certain soft touch that let out a comforting tone if he ever needed to use such a tone in his life. The way the demon's tone of voice changed for Rin reminded Sue of how her uncle's voice would change from when he was commanding his army to when he was giving her some advice during the long star filled nights. The very same uncle who was no longer of this world, just like the rest of her family.

"Why," she wondered rather than asked, but it attracted brown and golden eyes none the less. "Why do you stay with a demon?" Sue asked both Sesshomaru and Rin knowing who the question was referred to. "You've just been given a glance at the hurt he can cause…the blood he can shed…and yet….you still wish to stay by him…WHY!"

Rin huddled back a bit by the sound of Sue's voice practically screaming at her, but for some odd reason found comfort in the way Sesshomaru didn't budge a single inch with his stoic face hardly phased by Sue's loud words.

"Why, why stay with them! Don't you know they are just going to betray you in the end? What's wrong with you! STOP IT! Stop defending them like…she did. Stop protecting them as she did. JUST STOP….stop loving them as…she did…"

The last few words of her sentence came out in a whisper, but Rin still heard. She was also clearly able to see the tears pouring out of Sue's eyes like small diamonds leaking from the corners of her eyes sockets.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Rin responded with her eyes never leaving the other females. "You're not making any sense."

"My mother," Sue chocked. "She left my father for a demon when I was very little. She claimed to have loved a demon, and had the gall to convince my father that the demon's clan should join our army."

"Your mother was in love with a demon," Rin repeated, completely taken back by Sue's story.

Sue ignored her and continued, "She said it would be for the better, and that things would only become more peaceful once the demon's clan joined our army of soldiers. She said it would bring peace to both demons and humans, but of course my father was furious over her decision while I was too little at the time to understand."

The whole story was told with the speaker's eyes held down, until the very last word was spoken when she lifted her black eyes upward to face innocent sweet brown ones.

"Do you want to know what happened then?" she asked. The look on Sesshomaru's face stated that he could care less while Rin almost found the urge to nod; completely intrigued by the story.

Sue let out a very maddening chuckle, "They all died…."

An elegant brow arched above silver bangs, and a small gasp was heard behind silver moonlight hair.

"The demon my mother claimed to have loved ended up having his clan slaughter every single person in our village as well as a few of our soldiers. One of those brave soldiers happened to be my father…."

Sue felt her breath hitch at the sound of the word "father", but held back any tears.

"Those demons began to set the village I lived in a flame, and one of them even managed to get a good wound off of me," she explained while touching the scar sliding over her mouth.

"My mother was found dead soon after by the demon she so claimed to love I presume, and I was put into wooden chest by my father and set afloat down the river. When I was released my uncle was the one who found me as well as a few of the remaining soldiers, and my village had burned to the ground along with all those murderous demons."

Somewhere along the story Rin had uncovered herself from behind Sesshomaru and, without him stopping her, she walked up to the trembling woman till she stood a few inches from Sue without the woman even realizing till the very last minute. Pitch black eyes locked onto dark chocolate ones, and for a few second the two girls simply stared at one another like that.

Rin was the first to speak, "I can't say I know how you feel because I've never felt the pain of betrayal." Sue's eyes completely dried at her words, and Rin tried her best to ignore the large amount of bruises growing on the woman's cheeks and eyes.

"But I do know what it feels like to lose people you love, and there is nothing wrong with holding onto memories." Rin took one more step closer to Sue, "But if you don't let go of the past then you'll never be able to move on and be happy again." Sue blinked and Rin did her best to smile.

To let go of the past; Sue distinctly remembered her uncle saying something very similar to that. Her uncle….Sue looked to his dead corpse, and all of a sudden it seemed as though everything Rin had just said simply washed away along with any thought of calming down.

"Don't talk down to me," she growled at which Rin backed away some. "I-I'm not I was just trying to-"

"You were just trying to distract me so that beast over there can attack," Sue cutoff as she pointed to Sesshomaru. Rin felt her eyes darken at the "beast" comment, but held her tongue in. "Look at what that demon did! He killed every one of these soldiers without a second thoug-"

"These weak mortals were already considered dead when I arrived," Sesshomaru suddenly stated with a huff added to his voice. "Huh?" gasped both Rin and Sue as they looked to Sesshomaru to have him finish his explanation. "I merely finished the job, simple as that."

"What do you mean simple as that," Sue replied with her fist waving in the air, "what you're saying is making no sense did you kill them or not?"

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin whispered.

"Oh he killed them alright," Inuyasha stated as he approached from the side, "And by the way thanks for forgetting about me."

"Inuyasha?" stated Rin as she could not deny the fact that she did indeed forgot about him. "So I was right." Sue brought her spear to aim at Sesshomaru's armor covered chest, "He did kill them!"

Inuyasha brought his hand to grasp Sue's weapon and tugged it out of her grasp. "If I were you I would start inspecting these bodies more thoroughly. Tell me what you notice about this body," he asked as he grabbed the corpse of Sue's uncle roughly by the collar of his torn up clothing.

"You will put him down this instant," she growled. "I hate to break it to ya, but he's already dead," Inuyasha stated as he shook the dead body to prove his point. Sue's groan of frustration did nothing to faze Inuyasha, but the sound of Rin's gasp certainly did.

"Feathers," she stated as she had her eyes fixed over the corpse's bloody chest, "Black feathers."

"What about them?" Sue asked as she did take into consideration the amount of feathers scattered all over the battlefield. "They're called buzzards, and in case you didn't know they like to feed on the dead."

"Why don't you take a closer look at that wound?" asked the half demon as Sue's confused glare look straight at her uncle's blood covered armor. "Or do I have to show you myself?" he then added.

Sue huffed in response and slowly brought her hand to her uncle's armor, and gently peeled away at the broken metal pieces. With the last piece removed Sue watched in horror as something black fell through the armor along with a considerable amount of blood. The motionless object now layed drenched in a puddle of dark blood.

"W-What is that thing?" Sue asked as her eyes grew the more she stared at it. She thought it first to be his heart, but found it was much too big and only took it to be some other organ lying within the chest area.

"A crow…." Rin spoke softly, finally understanding the situation all thanks to Sango's teachings. "A….c-c-crow," Sue repeated as her eyed began to shake to know such a vial thing had been inside her uncle. "W-What the hell was it doing there?"

"This isn't just any crow," Rin explained, "This is a demon crow, and they are much bigger and dangerous than regular crows." With a shaky hand Rin grabbed the disgusting creature by the large talons on his feet and used both her hands to hoist him up for Sue to see for herself.

"They crave blood in order to survive, and the blood they love to feed on the most is humans. During this season is when they like to travel in groups the most because they know how vulnerable humans get in this weather."

"That still doesn't answer my question," Sue said as she grabbed the creature by the feet and winced when she almost felt it move.

Rin gulped as well, "S-Since they are not strong on their own they have the ability to take hosts, preferably humans since they are much weaker than demons. They strike through the skin and bones with their strong beaks, and bury themselves deep within the human's body to take control…as well as killing them in the process. Or so I've been told."

Rin found she was more than grateful for Sango and Kohaku's teachings when it came to important information needed to be given out on demons. For some reasons she was able to grasp more of the lessons than the training, but it was times like this that she found she could hardly complain.

Those words hit Sue like the first lightning to strike a stormy night, and after she turned her head from left to right she did begin to see more feathers scattered over the bodies of the army. Her head began to feel dizzy. So much happening in one night, and she felt as though there was so much more to take in.

"Crows…Are you saying my army died by mere demon crows? We have battled and killed demons even stronger than that so how can some demon as weak as a crow have killed my army!"

"Weren't you listening," Inuyasha objected, "The girl said that they travel in groups. I've had to take care of these things before, and let me tell ya they aren't exactly slow nor are they easy to kill." Inuyasha felt his pride decrease at the words, but he spoke the truth when he remembered ever moment spent having to use the windscar just to kill a bunch of flying bastards. It was maddening at the amount they traveled in, but with the village at stake he inhaled his pride and used his precious sword to discard them.

Sue exhaled the breath she didn't even know she was holding, and looked to Sesshomaru as did Rin with her eyes shining brighter than they had since nightfall had arrived. "T-Then he….."

"They were probably already controlled by the time he arrived, hmm well he did finish the job as he said," Inuyasha stated as he dropped the corpse near Sue.

"Yes, he did…" Rin agreed.

_But he had his reasons._

And for that she was starting to see less blood on his cloths and more of those golden eyes she loved so much. He may have killed them all, but to know that his intentions weren't necessarily set on that from the beginning Rin felt her heart flutter at knowing she had made the right decision to stay by him.

_Lord Sesshomaru…I_

"I DON'T CARE!" Rin heard, interrupting her thoughts, as she looked to the source of the voice. Sue grabbed her spear again and held it ready for battle. "His fault or not I will not allow a _monster_ like him to keep roaming this world. And once I finish him off you're next half demon, and as are you you foolish g-"

Suddenly the bones on Sue's cheek cracked to the point to where she cried out in pain, and when her eyes opened a tiny bit expecting to see some clawed hand making contact with her cheek she instead saw a simple delicate smaller hand crushing the bones of the knuckles to her face.

Sue fell to the ground with a loud 'thud' near her uncle, and when she went to touch her cheek she automatically winced in pain while her tongue could taste the tang of copper invading her mouth.

Rin stood hovering over her with her lungs out of breath and her eyes burning with rage. She didn't understand why the "monster" comment made her so angry to the point to where she would harm someone. To call her lord a demon, she accepted because it was true. To call her lord a killer, she couldn't deny because she knew that was part of who he was and may always be. However, to call her lord a monster set her heart on fire when a monster wouldn't dare do half the things he's done to make, if only her, happy.

"STOP CALLING HIM A MONSTER!"

With a hand still cradling her bruised cheek Sue gazed at Rin in utter shock, the look on her eyes when realizing a crow was nestled inside her uncle was nothing compared to the surprise in her eyes now. Her spear lay on the ground, but she made no move to pick it nor did she even try to stand. The fall allowed her to lie right next to her uncle, and for the first time Sue felt the pain of the loss hit her harder than it did since she first say his lifeless body stare back at her.

The first teardrop fell on the ground, and the next landed more on the body of the corpse. The third landed on the broken armor, and finally fresh streams of tears fell from Sue's face as she layed her head on her uncle's bloody chest with her mind finally set on giving in.

"I think she's done," said Inuyasha as she couldn't help but pity the pathetic girl. "I think you're right," Rin nodded as she rubbed her now bruised fingers before she heard footsteps head her way. She turned her head to see Sesshomaru already a good foot away from her, and after a good second of silence she smiled with a soft "Lord Sesshomaru".

For a moment he said nothing, but after his eyes settled on her hand he quickly responded. "…Hmm," he grunted before he took Rin's hand in his own and inspected the purplish blue marks himself. Rin knew the color of the blood on his hands was beginning to match the color on her cheeks, but neither once did she flinch or pull away.

With sharp fangs making contact with pure white cloth Sesshomaru ripped the material from his long sleeve despite Rin's gasp of protest. "M-my lord your clothing-"

"It's replaceable," he added on before she could utter another word. With the long strip ripped he slowly began to work on tying the silk tightly between and around Rin's fingers to keep them from moving or else the bruises could get worse. He had not tied such a wound since he made his own first punch years and years ago, but he could still recall the technique of wrap he used.

Once he found that his job was complete Rin looked at her hand now wrapped in the same silk her lord wore, and when she looked at him her sweet smile and quiet, "thank you" was all that needed to be seen for his stone cold gaze to soften to melted heated gold.

_(Pulse…)_

"Hrm," the noise in the back of his throat caught Rin's attention as she looked to find Sesshomaru staring down at the tenseiga. "My lord is something wrong?"

_(Pulse…)_

_Tenseiga is stirring, what is it? _His soft gaze went stoic again, and his eyes settled on all the bodies around him as he felt yet another-

_(Pulse…)_

_These dead men…are you trying to tell me to save them? _"Ridiculous," he growled as Rin questioned him with another, "What is it?"

_Why tenseiga? What reason would you have to have me….._Ember orbs fell on the corpse of the dead general that the assassin girl still clung too. Out of every dead body he saw he could only see the embraceries of afterlife taking hold of that certain body. The image of the small imps of the underworld poking at the dead body presented only to the demon prince's ember eyes as he felt another-

_(Pulse…)_

_Him, does tenseiga want me to save that human? _

"Why?" Sesshomaru then growled as he began to walk to the dead body while he drew out the tenseiga. "Lord Sesshomaru," Rin said as she watched him approach Sue with the tenseiga in hand. Even Inuyasha was beginning to catch on with the thought of, "He's not gonna…."

When Sue heard footsteps approach her she turned her head to reveal red tear stained eyes and red and blue cheeks. A more pathetic sight is Sesshomaru ever saw one. "Move," he growled, and at which Sue clutched onto her uncle when she saw the sight of the sword. "He's already dead what more do you-"

"Would ya shut your trap and watch," Inuyasha huffed as he peeled the woman away from the corpse and set her near him with his hand on her collar.

With Sue near Inuyasha and Rin not far behind Sesshomaru the dog lord's gaze narrowed to show he was not happy about this, but had come to trust his swords judgment regardless. He lifted his sword up and over the human's body, and with an elegant stroke he guided tenseiga's blade to slice through the creatures of the afterlife sending off a warm purified light from the general's body as well as the sword's blade.

The light shined on Rin and she smiled at its warmth, recalling a time in her life that she felt this strange feeling before. Even Sue herself felt the blue tinted light shine on her, but made no move to stop its shine from hitting her face as she could do nothing but embrace the warm feeling spreading throughout her body like a warm cotton blanket.

"What kind of demon has this sort of power?" she thought.

When the light dissipated Sesshomaru re-sheathed his sword with a classy swing to the blade while his mind held no doubt that what he did wasn't successful. With his eyes closing to end the case he turned on the now breathing body to meet Rin behind him.

"Return to the village," he ordered her calmly. Rin was a bit confused that he would ask that all of a sudden, but nodded either way. "Huh, um…yes, but what about you my lord?"

"You are to wait there until my return," he stated as which Rin smiled knowing he was going to return to her, and soon she hoped. After a moment long exchange between glances Sesshomaru finally broke eye contact to move onward past Rin, and find his way to the nearest source of water.

Rin turned her head to see him disappear into the forest, and then she turned her head back to see Sue crawling to her uncle.

At first the woman herself looked dead by just the way her eyes held no color, but when she choked out "uncle?" the color lifted in her eyes when she saw her uncle's black eyes open to meet hers. Another waves of tears spilled when Sue realized what just happened, and when the general whispered her name Sue allowed her head to lie on his now healed chest.

Rin couldn't help but smile at the scene, and even though Sue put her through a lot these past few days Rin would rather the woman not suffer the feeling of loneliness as she herself once did. Rin was also quit proud that she was able to land a good punch out of her, and the thought brought Rin to smile at the silk bandage her lord wrapped.

"Will you find your way back alright?" Inuyasha asked as he approached Rin. Rin was about to reply when a sudden-

"Inuyasha!"

"Rin!"

Both looked up to see Kagome and Kohaku riding Kirara as they waved down to meet them. "Yes, I should be just fine," Rin replied.

Inuyasha nodded with an added, "Tell Kagome I won't be far and I'll be back later."

Rin nodded herself as she saw Inuyasha take off after Sesshomaru until she turned her head back around to wave back at her friends.

~~~o0o~~~

The sounds of a crashing waterfall irritated the half demon's sensitive ears, but Inuyasha could only image what it must be like for Sesshomaru who at the moment had his head under the falls with the mineral water cleaning his hair and hands.

"So you ended up saving another human life today," Inuyasha mentioned as he sat criss-cross on a large boulder not far from his brother.

"Your point is," Sesshomaru replied as he turned his head with water spilling down his face and back. He swore that half breed was only here to annoy him. He would have brought Rin along if he knew Inuyasha would be here pestering him right about now.

"Well you couldn't save the others or what?" he then asked as his chin rested in his palm with his eyes ending off a bored look.

"I'm not so merciful," he simply replied until he ducked his head right back into the falls with the sounds of the crashing water tuning out his brother.

"Whatever," Inuyasha replied as he closed his eyes at his brother's distant attitude, but what was new. "I don't know. If you ask me I think you actually decided to be nice for once," he stated as he watched Sesshomaru lift his face from the falls while whipping his hands clean with his sleeve and allowed nature's wind to take its course on his wet dripping, yet now clean hair.

His only response was the usual death glare that Inuyasha found hardly phased him anymore, and kept up with the fun loving teasing.

"To think that the cold hearted Sesshomaru could actually have a kind enough heart to heal-"

The sound of a boulder landing on thick ground filled the mountains and sent the birds flying away from the distant trees.

There beside the waterfall Inuyasha's foot twitched while the rest of him layed flat beneath a massive boulder with the word "bastard" mumbled underneath as Sesshomaru walked away from his pathetic excuse of a brother with his hair dancing along his back

"Don't mock me."

**AN: Awww brotherly moment…sorta lol This was a much longer chapter than I anticipated, and I wanted to add more fluff moments between sess/rin but I thought it would be better to add that to the next and final chapter of the story. And just in case any of you are wondering I do have a reason for bringing the general back to life, but as for now you'll just have to keep reading to find out why.**

**As for now it's super late so I'm going to get some shut eye and work on the next chapter tomorrow. Thanks a lot for reading! And leave a comment if you like I would appreciate any! Till next time.**


	13. Time Spent Not Soon Forgotten

**AN: Ok so I have spent more than four nights working on this chapter, and every night I tell myself I am going to finish it by the end of the night, but of course here I am making it longer lol I am honest when I say this chapter was not meant to be this long, but this is the final chapter to my longest story yet so I figure if I am going to end it I better end it BIG with the longest chapter I have ever written so far!**

**It had its challenges but I was more than happy to write it I had so much fun writing this whole story actually and it really gave me something to do in my spare time. I love Sesshomaru's character so I loved writing ever word of my stories even if they could use some work.**

**Anyway here you go I hope you enjoy the ending to this story, and btw thank you for all the comments I have received so far. From the ones who have kept up with my stories love you guys and to the ones who are new to the party. Thank you to the anonymous reviewers I really appreciate it thanks a lot, and to the ones who have only commented once it still means a lot to me. Thank you everyone you guys make these stories worth writing. Please enjoy and R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the Inuyasha characters.**

With her foot set on the ground Rin waved a goodbye to Kohaku and Kagome while thanking Kirara for the ride back to the village. Carrying one person is easy enough, two didn't make a lot of difference, but three was a bit much yet they somehow managed.

"Will you be alright by yourself?" Kohaku asked with the obvious concern spilling from his voice. "I'll be just fine," Rin reassured as she waved one last time to the both of them before they headed over to Sango's for the night.

With the short walk to her hut Rin began to wonder what was now going to become of the demon assassins. All that was left was Sue and her uncle; the soldier from before was unable to make it from the loss of too much blood according to Kagome, and she was a much more experienced healer than Rin herself. Kohaku had offered to return for Sue and her uncle, but the general turned down the offer when he mentioned there was much explaining that needed to be done. Sue of course, was willing to explain everything, and at the utmost truth.

The cold night wind hit Rin's neck and face, and she blew warm air into her icy hands when her eyes landed on the white silk wrapped around her fingers. She smiled while her cheeks blushed a rosy pink when she thought about the way her lord gently held her hand in his larger warmer one while wrapping a piece of silk, from his own kimono no less, around each one of her fingers and tying it into a knot in the center.

Aside from all the protection she received from him as well as the gifts, this was the sweetest thing he had ever done for her. To know he held that much concern over a few simple bruises left her stomach feeling as though dozens of flower petals were dancing inside; or in this case autumn leaves.

The intense flutter was almost too much for her at that moment, and to release a small amount of her excitement she looked around for a moment to make sure no one was near before she placed her lightly colored pink lips on the soft white silk, and released with a gentle kiss while smiling the rest of the way back to her hut. She no longer felt so cold anymore.

~~~o0o~~~

A long silence filled the cold night air as a general with long grayish black hair looked to the dead bodies of the men he used to call his comrades. After his niece explained what happened, he simple sat in silence for a very long time; contemplating on the whole scene playing out in his head, and what their next course of action should be. After what seemed like an eternity of silence he finally spoke with a simple quiet, "…I see."

Sue sat with her back against his back, and she took his words as a sign that is was alright for her to speak now as well. She felt that the quieter it all was, the more she would wake up and this would all be a dream. "So, now what do we do?"

That small conversation happened only a few hours ago, and now Sue found herself slicing through the dirt to make graves for all her soldiers. Her uncle was not far off laying the bodies within the ground. Both knew it would take days till all the bodies were properly buried, and they both knew it would have been pointless to take the warriors back to their homes to be buried; not when there was this many and they no longer had any source of transportation. The horses too were slaughtered, but for some unknown reason the crows only seemed to want their blood rather than their bodies. Human were just more functional they supposed.

A sound of pure disgust erupted form the general's mouth as he removed yet another crow from a soldier's body. "To think I had one of these within me too," he stated before he set the soldier gently in the ground.

"You don't remember anything?" Sue asked.

Her uncle stopped what he was doing, and took a long sigh, "It all happened so fast. There was just too many of them. And before I knew it I found some of our soldiers even attacking me. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and then it was over….no more pain… no more burdens laying on your shoulders, I simply felt…at rest…and it was nice in its own way."

The general's stared from the ground to his niece's black orbs as he finished with a, "I suppose that best explains what death feels like. Well in my case it is."

Sue didn't necessarily respond, but what could have been said when a few hours ago the body that was moving around just now was once seen holding lifeless eyes. "How can a demon be able to possess such a power like that? A demon! Of all the creatures in this world to have the power to bring the dead back to life…I would have thought it to be some kind of priest or spiritual priestess, but no. A demon…"

"The world is a mystery that way Sue," the general replied before chuckling to himself. "So you were finally able to see the Killing Perfection, and here I missed him. Did you happen to get his true name?"

"I heard it vaguely, so I don't really remember," she replied. Getting someone's name wasn't exactly at the top of her head during that time.

"Was he as powerful and ferocious as they say?"

"He was….," Sue wanted to spill out so many horrendous words, but each and every time she could only think of that pure glowing warm light, and for a split second Sue almost thought that demon wasn't even a demon at all, "…strong."

"That's it?"

"I'd rather not talk anymore about him…"

"Well you're going to have to soon," the general mentioned as he rebadged through a sack full of scrolls.

"Huh, but why?"

~~~o0o~~~~

"Why," Rin thought when she entered her home to find cold messy soup spilled all over her clean floors, and several bottles of ailments broken in two. "Why me," she sighed before laying her eyes on both Ami and Jaken who were trying to hide themselves within the far shadows in the corner.

Rin didn't bother with them until she lit another fire in the center of the hut to illuminate the boards around them with a bright orange glow. Once that was taken care of Rin allowed her face to show the anger it wanted to reveal, and with a harsh enough glare emitting from her eyes Ami and Jaken jumped in fear.

"Listen here Rin don't go thinking this is my fault!" Jaken rambled on, "this foolish girl here tried to boil up the food but ended up making this whole mess!"

"Well you're the one who wouldn't stop complaining about your hunger," Ami argued as she came face to face with the small imp, "at least I was trying to do something while you were sitting around sulking to yourself."

The two growled at each other as if they were mad dogs, and Rin butted in between the two babies to speak in as calm a voice as she could. "I don't care what happened here," she inhaled, "and I don't care how this started. All I want now if for you two to go into Kaede's room so I can get this cleaned up, and then I want to sleep for it has been a very long night."

"You weren't gone that long," Jaken stated before Rin looked to him with the dark circles under her eyes explaining all the sleep she needed. One look and the imp nodded frantically as Ami looked out the door with a, "Where's Sesshomaru?"

"He left," Rin answered while getting some fresh towels to clean up the mess.

"Left!" Jaken repeated, "He wouldn't just leave me in this village."

"Come on now Master Jaken you know this is just how Lord Sesshomaru always is," Rin reassured with a smile. The words were true enough and held comfort in their own way, but that still did not stop the sad puppy eyes from forming on Jaken's face.

No further questions were asked after that, and no further answered were replied. Ami and Jaken left Rin's room with the last words being was to be silent and that there were some spare blankets in a chest in the far right corner. A while had passed and Rin was finally able to get most of the mess cleaned up. To her it looked like a green monster decided to vomit all over her clean floors because most of her ailments were green, and that mixed with the brown broth of the soup made the mess all the more disgusting.

"Done," she finished while using her arm to whip away what little sweat her forehead had created. The room was now clean for the most part aside from the permanent stain that now adorned her wooden floors. Rin knew she had every reason to be mad, but staying angry at someone or something just wasn't in her nature. Her night was filled with mixed emotions, and right now all she wanted was to sleep the rest of the night away.

While arranging her bedroll Rin heard footsteps come near her doorway, and the fact was realized when she saw the upcoming of a dark shadow approach. Her first and only thought accidentally slipped out of her mouth when she ran passed the mat at the door with a very excited, "Lord Sesshomaru".

Brown eyes had hoped to see gold, but all she struck was the black holes of Sue who was standing outside her doorways. Rin stopped dead in her tracks with her hand holding the mat off to the side while she tried her best not to let the silence envelope them. "Sue…what are you-"

"Sesshomaru is it?" she asked, and continued when Rin wasn't quite catching on. "The demon's name is Sesshomaru then, am I right?"

"Well um…yes, but did you come all this way just to ask me that?" Rin asked hoping the woman would just leave. Sue's face and body were covered in cuts and bruises, and her biggest bruise layed on her left cheek where Rin remembered making contact with her fist. A part of her felt bad for doing such a cruel thing, that simple part of her that still found flowers to be just as lively as humans were. Yet the other part of her knew if the woman bad mouthed her lord again the process would be repeated.

"You knew all this time that we were after him," Sue asked with her face holding as much emotion as a rock, "didn't you?" Rin stood her ground and held her head up high while answering with a stern, "yes". Sue's simply responded by humming a noise in the back of her throat. "And I suppose that is why you lied to me? You were trying to protect him?"

This time Rin denied that question by a little, "mm-mm" while shaking her head. "No, he is by no means in need of any protection. On the contrary I am the one usually put into the position where I need to be protected." Rin almost giggled at the twisted concept Sue had in her mind. "However, he is the reason I lied to you. I just…didn't want your army to have to confront him."

"…Are you saying we wouldn't have been strong enough to defeat him?"

Rin nodded, "Even with all of you combined you could not have defeated him." Rin was not going to sugar coat her answer, she told Sue the straight truth.

"…You seem to know so much about him," Sue explained with Rin's coloring going red. "So answer me this, if my army had not of been under control would he still have killed them?"

The question was not one Rin was looking forward to answer, if she could even find the words to answer. It took her a few moments, but finally her lips began to move.

"If your army had attacked him he would have fought back and yes, he probably would have killed them. Although, maybe if you had disregarded any business you have with him then he would have disregarded it as well. To be honest with you in some ways I am still getting to know him. If you want a true answer than you may have to ask him yourself."

"I see," she replied before looking to the hut, "Is he here?"

Rin shook her head, "No, I don't know where he is and if you don't believe me then you may have a look for yourself." Rin held the mat wider, but Sue held up her hand to deny the offer, "That won't be necessary. I simple came to give him these." Sue held in her hands a few scrolls that all looked older than the dirt she stood on considering the amount of wrinkles and dry coloring they had.

"What are those?"

"My uncle said that he would have a much better use for them than we, and that we no longer need them. He would have come here to deliver them himself, but as a general his men come first so he sent me here to deliver them instead."

"I see," Rin said as she eyes the old paper wondering what lay within its contents. "Would you give these to him?" asked Sue. Rin was not very surprised by the request, and nodded her head gentle as Sue handed her the scrolls all in one hand over. Rin felt as though the paper would crumble like the way brown leaves would crack under her feet, so she did her best to handle them with great care. "I'll see that he gets these," she said.

Sue nodded as she turned on her heels and began to walk away, and Rin watched her leave until the woman stopped dead in her tracks. "About before," she spoke without looking back, "I believe I went a tad too far when trying to harm you." _Only a tad? _Rin was very sure Sue went completely overboard when she started attacking her, but kept the comment to herself as she kept on listening.

"I still hate them, demons I mean. And I don't think a day will ever come when I don't. However, I will cease to harm any humans from this day forward even if they get in my way. From now on it's strictly demons I shall kill." The vow was followed by Sue's hand running through her bangs once again. She knew the bad habit would never stop, but for some reason she doesn't feel it to be such a nuisance anymore. **(AN: a habit I wish I could stop too, I guaranty I twirl my bangs every other minute when I write my stories, but I'm sure it's just nerves or idk lol)**

Rin felt her sweat drop; at least the woman was making…some kind of change. Though if Rin would have it her way she would rather Sue take up the life of a demon slayer. At least they don't kill for no reason, but what Sue was making was a….start.

Sue began to walk away when her sentence was finished, but the sound of Rin's voice brought her to another stop. "You know," Rin started off, "in the spring that field blooms with dozens of beautiful flowers." Sue didn't look back or reply, but Rin continued either way. "So…um I just wanted to let you know that your soldiers will be buried in a very beautiful place…"

Rin didn't know what else to say, and in the end she only wanted to make some sort of amends. She felt she achieved that goal when she heard Sue whisper a quiet, "Thank you" before walking away to disappear out of sight.

Rin did the same as she turned on her heels to head back inside wondering when or if she was every going to see Sue again.

~~~o0o~~~

With a silent flight he made his way over the village avoiding any kind contact with any other hut aside from Rin's. Black leather boots landed atop of a red wooden post, and from there Sesshomaru jumped to land softly on the ground next to the girl's hut.

Normally he would never take such an approach; in fact a little earlier today he held no desire to go inside the shaggy hut due to the amount of people that lay inside not to mention the slayer that seemed to have a way with making Rin smile. Yet now none of that seemed to matter, and with a clawed hand moving the mat to the side Sesshomaru was revealed with the sight of Rin sleeping peacefully on her side with her hand tucked under her cheek and her hair splaying behind her like a raven's black wing. A beautiful sight that even Sesshomaru found alluring.

The room was dark aside from the dying embers that occupied within dusty ash where a fire used to burn, and the moonless night only gave off a darker feel to where if it hadn't of been for his highly developed eyes sight he would have to strain just to see where he was going. The demon prince slowly made his way to his way to the simple village girl while completely forgetting to remove his footwear; not that he meant for any kind of disrespect, but with his presence mainly being within forests instead of homes the little rule simply slipped past his mind.

While kneeling on one knee Sesshomaru studied Rin's features to see just how far into sleep she truly was, and by the sounds of her steady breathing and barely parted lips, it was all the proof he needed that she was very much in the land of dreams. Her soft creamy cheek was displayed before him while the hand he remembered wrapping was tucked under her cheek; almost as if she intentionally fell asleep that way. Adding to much pressure may only worsen the bruise by morning, and Sesshomaru knew the daily chores Rin was responsible for such as picking herbs and gathering water that all involved her working with her hands.

It was all nothing more than a few simple bruises that would heal within a matter of days; he knew that, but for some unknown reason his temper would rise at the thought of Rin in any kind of pain. The bandage was his own way of helping her wound heal quicker, if he couldn't do that then the feeling of being completely useless to the girl would start to develop within him. And to him there was no other feeling that could compare to feeling useless; especially when it came to her, when he once told her he would be the one to fight for her.

_This is why…._

This is why its better that Rin resigned in the village for the time being. This bruise was brought on by her own actions, but if she were to ever get into the danger he faces while on patrol she could receive wounds far greater than a bruise, and can't always fight at his best when his first priority is her safety instead of killing the enemy. She was safe here, and he would be damned if anyone stood in his way from seeing her.

A gentle clawed finger ran across her pink tinted cheek; very soft and very smooth. His finger ran down her chin till his hand took hold of hers to gently remove her hand from beneath her chin and place it to her side while his thoughts continued.

He didn't need to go back on patrol till winter; he could stay throughout the fall and wait till the first fall of snow to leave. But to leave Rin in such a harsh weather condition didn't fit well in his mind. He could already see her buried in a snow storm without anyone being able to find her, or her body somehow falling through cracked ice and if drowning didn't kill her, the temperature sure will.

Sesshomaru shook his head with his bangs whishing from side to side. What he was thinking must be what humans call 'paranoia', and he wasn't about to let a human emotion take over his calm state of mind. Still though, that didn't stop his thoughts from wandering off, and he was starting to see that his long stay would better off be spent in the winter.

Of course that would mean he would have to leave immediately to patrol his designated territory so he could be back by then; if he wasn't seen around his lands for a long period of time more and more demons would start up a raucous from his lack of attendance. The thought didn't strike him as exciting, but it did leave him with a sense that what he was deciding was for the best.

To have a much longer time spent with this sleeping girl in the winter seemed far better than now when he was sure she would be busy preparing for the coldest season of the year. She would be busy with preparations, and he would be busy with patrols. By the end of fall they would both be done, and he would return in the beginning of winter to enjoy what he considered 'his favorite season' with her.

It was not a bad idea, and as for what he could tell it was already decided. He also decided that having the imp gone would allow his patrol to go by faster without Jaken slowing him down. Now all that was left was to have Jaken deliver the news to Rin. He did not want to wake her when he felt she was in such a peaceful slumber.

With one last gentle stroke to her cheek Sesshomaru lifted himself off his knee to give his orders, but before he could even lift himself from his position he felt a smaller hand clamp down over his to allow his palm to remain over the young woman's cheek. He looked down realizing it was Rin herself who held his hand to her face, and with her eyes barely open he began to wonder if she was just still dreaming.

A sleepy yawn and little moan was all it took for him to know she was awake, and when she whispered his name he knew he wasn't going anywhere yet. "Please," she begged with her eyes still half way open and her hair becoming a messy halo around her head, "please don't go yet."

~~~o0o~~~

A few moments later Rin was starting a warm crackling fire and Sesshomaru actually took the time to sense that his servant and whatever the girl's name was were sleeping in another room. Leaving him and Rin alone, and giving them some time together before he left. He had just finished explaining to Rin about his departure, and now he was waiting for her reply.

"Oh…I see," she whispered while trying to hide her obvious disappointment by covering up with a fake smile. Of course she did not want him to leave so soon especially when she got to spend so little time with him in the two days that he was actually here. It led her to feel both mad and sad at the same time, but knew she had no right to take out her anger on him. It was his duty, and he wasn't called LORD Sesshomaru for nothing.

Once Rin felt the fire was settled she got up with the sleep long gone from her eyes. She walked back to her lord, and the sight before her did cause her to let out a small giggle which she did a poor job in hiding. "What is so amusing?" he asked with his elegant brow arched, and his lips forming his closest version to a pout.

"Forgive me my lord it's just…" Rin looked at him again and smiled with yet another small giggle, "I've never seen you in a village hut before, or any home for that matter." In truth he did stand out very considerably compared to everything else. If he were a picture he would be the most obvious I-spy picture ever with his white hair and white clothing compared to every other furniture in the room being made of mostly wood. "I believe a castle is more suited for your style."

"I already have a castle," he replied in his sitting position with his left hand over his left bent knee; tenseiga and bakuseiga resting by their master's side.

"Is my presence in here a bother to you Rin?" Rin smiled as she walked back to him with her hand reaching out to touch his cheek just as he did hers. "Not at all," she answered sweetly as her thumb ran up one of his stripes before she released him to sit down next to him. She decided then and there that if he was going to leave soon then she better make use of what little time she had left to spend with him.

"Do you mind if I ask you something my lord?"

"What is it?"

Rin hesitated at first; not really knowing if he was in the mood for answering unnecessary questions. "If you have a castle to live in, then why do you not live in it?" She was starting to think what she thought was true and that he just wasn't in the mood for talking…until his voice reached her ears. "I had lived there long enough when I was young. Going back now will only burden me with more duties that I find I do not want to deal with right now."

"Oh," she said as she tried to see how much more she could get out of him, "Will you return there one day?"

"Yes," he answered simply, "when I feel the benefits there will be essential to my ruling these lands."

"I see; that is understandable. What kind of burdens do you not wish to face, if you don't mind me asking?" Rin didn't even realize how interested she became in his life, but to know why this honorable stoic demon prince did not want to live the life he was raised on living was very interesting to her.

Sesshomaru huffed at the question, but only because it brought up topics that he did not wish to think about, "I will be pestered into partnerships, and the offers will not stop until I have chosen one most suitable to keep in my company."

"Partnership?" she questioned.

"To humans its marriage and even a few demons are starting to embrace that kind of bond. No doubt I will be expected to as well."

"My lord it doesn't sound like you are ready to marry. So why would they force you?"

"That woman you saw as my mother will enforce it, and as will more demons of the respectable kind with lands ready for the uniting and daughters ready for a new life to live."

Rin actually found herself speechless, and would have thought of something to say if her lord didn't beat her to it which was a surprise in itself considering she was the one mostly talking. "I have no desire to face that right now, so I don't bother returning."

As far as the dog lord was concerned that palace never felt like home to him to begin with. His mother calls it the 'nature of his father', and he supposed that is because he found that he belonged where the sun hits the mountains and the wind whispers through the trees. Along with the woman beside him he found his lands to be his true home, and found peace walking on dirt all his life than sitting at some desk with ink suffocating his nose.

"I can't imagine that," Rin said, breaking his thoughts but he continued to listen anyway. "I can't imagine an arranged marriage. It happens here all the time, but I don't like the thought of marrying someone I have yet to love."

"Most demons find love to be unnecessary, so arranged partnerships are always the case."

"I am sorry to hear that you will have to face that my lord. If you want you are always welcomed here in the case that things become overwhelming." Rin smiled, actually took the last part as more of a tease, but it seemed Sesshomaru still had a lot to learn about the meaning of a joke.

"You would not want to be faced with my burdens," he mentioned, and almost tensed when he felt Rin lean her head up against his right arm. "I would do whatever it takes to make you happy I...uh…I…I" Rin felt her cheeks go warm, and her entire face went red at the small confession accidentally slipping out.

She felt utterly embarrassed, but looked up anyway to find what she could only describe as enchanting.

The fire illuminating off her lord's golden eyes to make her feel as though she were staring into bright sunset; a scene she has not seen in a while. His bright sun kissed orbs looked at her with an unfamiliar expression, and the light danced around his marking making them stand out more from his angelic face while his hair seemed more orange than silver as a few strands poured over his shoulders like liquid streams.

He looked absolutely beautiful, and Rin found that she could not look away until she heard him speak once more. "Don't say…." he started.

Before Rin even had a chance to comprehend what he said she felt her whole body shift in such a quick motion she felt her breath hitch. When she realized what happened she found herself between his legs with her back leaning against his armor, and his knees on either side of her thighs. His left leg was of course till bent, but in a way it allowed her to nestle closer to him though if anyone was pulling her close it was his powerful arm that wrapped loosely around her stomach.

"Such foolish things," he ended with his chin resting gently against her right shoulder. While this should have been uncomfortable, she found her body quickly adjusting to the new position as she felt her back begin to cuddle against his armored chest. _He's…embracing me…me!_

Her 'paradise' didn't stop there as she placed her hand over the one that was currently attached to the arm around her stomach, and his steady breathing filled her eardrums to create a very comforting symphony to her ears.

She had a feeling she must have still been dreaming. Here she was, in her hut, with her Lord Sesshomaru sitting right behind her, and she herself leaning up against him while he in turn layed his chin on her shoulders. Nobody else; just them, and the warm fire that helped create a barrier from the cold weather outside.

Rin turned her head to see his eyes halfway closed, and wondered if he was tired. "Lord Sesshomaru?" she asked; her hand desperately wanting to pat his cheek to see if he was alright.

"Your actions today did not go unnoticed" he then said with his mouth muffled against her shoulder, but she heard either way. She was at first confused as to what he was indicating, but the moment her eyes landed on their conjoined hands she started to understand. "Oh that, it was…I mean…I was happy to do it," she stated with a blushing smile; knowing that the fire was the only thing hiding her cheery blossom pink face.

She felt him grab her hand in both of his, and with a gentle tug he pulled at the knot holding the wrap together. Slowly he unwrapped the silk from her fingers and once her skin was revealed he was pleased to see that her skin color was more normal than purple. A little noise rumbling in the back of his chest was all he said as he held her hand in his for a far longer time than he intended. Rin was the first to break the silence.

"Actually, I prefer the silk to be wrapped," she mentioned while her pink blush went rosy red when he looked at her with a peculiar glare. "Well I just think my hand would heal a lot faster…i-if it stays wrapped." In all reality she only wanted to have the silk stay on her hand because it would always remind her of him, even if she could not deny the fact that he would be on her mind regardless but still. To have a little part of him always with her left her heart racing and stomach tingling.

With a deep "hmm" signaling his approval he rewrapped her hand again with the silk guiding over each one of her fingers to all end with a tiny knot which Rin noted that he tied on the top of her hand this time. A little change made, but either way he was the one who wrapped it so she could not stop the happy smile gracing her pretty face. "Thank you," she said sweetly while leaning her head against his to have him reply with a small grunt. "Next time use your knuckles," he mentioned as he tapped her bare knuckled to prove his point that the bone from there would be much more affective.

"Oh uh right," she nodded with a tint of embarrassment showing. In truth she already knew that piece of information from Sango and her combat training, but with her anger speaking for itself she had lost all thought and only focused on hurting her target. A foolish tactic she would admit, but if it meant having her master hold her so close as he is now with his concern held in her simply bruised hand then she would do it all over again.

For a while they sat like that; in complete silence but Rin was not about to complain. Ever since she was little she had only dreamed of being this close to him, and during the lantern festival she was, but for some reason it was different this time. Perhaps it was because she felt like they were secluded in their own little world even though it was just her village hut. Maybe because with the warm atmosphere developing around them it let off such a romantic feel when he practically warmed her body with his own to keep whatever bare skin she had away from the bitter cold.

She could only imagine what the winter would be like.

With a silver head now leaning against the wooden walls and Rin with her own head leaning against his armor she felt her eyelids begin to sag, until the sound of a smooth baritone voice opened them wide up again. "Kohaku," he mentioned, knowing that if he didn't straighten this one little mystery out he will continue to wonder. "You care a great deal about him."

"Well of course I do," Rin replied not sensing the tiny switch his leg made. "I care about him just like I do Kaede and Kagome and Sango and Inuyasha and-"

"So what do you consider him to be?" Sesshomaru then asked; being a demon to get straight to the point or Rin's non-stop chatter will continue. Or course he knew that as much respect as she had in his personal life he should share the same respect no matter how high he outranked her role in society. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Rin smiled at his words, but felt nothing wrong with his question especially since she was the one asking questions not too long ago. "Ever since we were little me and him have been good friends, and it's nice to have a childhood friend I can talk to. Of course I do get the feeling at times that he has had other feelings for me, especially a few years ago when he asked me to join him for a midnight stroll through a flower field."

"A midnight stroll?" questioned Sesshomaru as he never once moved his hand away while Rin put her palm over the top of his hand. "Mm-hmm, Kagome said that where she came from they would have festivals that celebrate love and romance with flowers and sweets. Valenti…something like that."

Rin took her lord's silence as a signal for her to continue. "Well Kohaku and I heard about it, and the next day he came to me with flowers in his hand. He asked me if I was free that night, and then asked if I would like to join him for a midnight stroll in a nearby flower field. It was mostly Kaede and Kagome that urged me to say yes, and I did."

"I take it you enjoyed it then?" he asked with his voice reaching a near whisper.

"I…I never went."

Rin saw his brow arch and his expression become peculiar, so she continued on. "Well you see...at that time I had other things on my mind."

"Other things?"

Rin felt her face begin to heat when thinking about the rest of her story, but knew she could not just end it there even if Sesshomaru might not have minded. "This was about four years ago. I couldn't name the day or time specifically when you left to war, but I know then that you've been gone for a year. A year seemed like such a long time…I-I thought maybe something had happened to you. I know it sounds silly, but I thought maybe you had gotten hurt or…even worse."

Sesshomaru stayed quiet and listened on while taking note how Rin squeezed his hand gently; almost as if making sure he was still there. "The night didn't really go well since then. I apologized continuously to Kohaku and even offered to try another time. He said the idea sounded good, but after he left to go train some more I think the idea was forgotten when he returned."

"You did not ask?"

"I could have, but no for some reason I did not."

After that one sentence that conversation had come to its end without Rin having to go into specific detail on how hard she took the pain of knowing her lord was off to war, and that even a year can usually indicated he was probably not going to come back. She knows now that she probably took the pain a little too out of proportion, but when the village kept talking about men dying off at war her 13 year old mind could only think of the her lord's dying body lying within a pool of his own blood.

It seemed luck was not on her side that night when Kohaku had asked her out. She knew it was silly to cry that much over a fact that she didn't even know was true, but either way it happened and she fell asleep that night in tears while her young body was wrapped in a silk white kimono much too big for her size. And now she could only laugh at herself because she should have known her lord was going to be alright with the amount of power he possessed

And he was more than alright; he was here with her now.

"That war is over, I have no interest in going back," he stated, adding on to her comfort as well as a happy smile to her face.

"And may I ask you something?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"Well it's about Ami…"

A silver brow wet down while his mind began to search for a face to put that name with. "That annoyance in the other room?"

Rin almost wanted to laugh, but having him say that already summed up his answer to her question. _If he can't even remember her name then what do I have to worry about? _With that in mind she smiled at knowing he held no interest in her, and moved on to her next question. "How does she know you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"In exchange for a gift I aided her in her time of need, but as to why she is here is beyond my comprehension."

"A gift?"

"You're wearing it," he stated as Rin eyed her kimono with her heart swelling to the point that her eyes felt the need to cry. _He went through all that trouble…for me? _It was almost too much for her to handle right then and there, but every water building up below her eyes was thankfully swallowed right back in. However, that did not stop a sensitive nose from sniffing the salt of tears. "Rin…"

"I'm alright," she reassured while squeezing his hand a little tighter to prove her point, "Just happy is all."

She was happy; to have this time to simply talk with him made her heart shine and her eyes water with unsheathed tears. To know he was willing to talk to her even though he was not a demon of very many words, and to have him hold her so close. The only thing that scared her now was for her to wake up thinking it was all going to be a dream, and even though she tried her best to hide it a yawn easily escaped her mouth.

"You must rest Rin," he stated as he could easily pick up her tired state through her saggy eyes and throaty yawn. He saw her shake her head slowly followed by a, "I'm alright reall-" her sentence was cut off by another yawn. Looks like sleep was going to win her over this time, "I-I guess you're right," she ended.

With a good shift by his position Sesshomaru was able to gather the girl into his arms and walk them back to her futon. With steady muscles and a firm hold Rin was placed gently in her bed with her hair sprawled out behind her to allow her face to stand out more. Her eyes were sleepy and her body was losing its motion the more tired she became, but still she smiled.

"Lord Sesshomaru…" She watched as he began to gather her blankets and cover her up one by one. "Hmm," he responded as moved her blankets to make sure she was covered from head to toe.

Rin let out another sleepy yawn before her hand moved to point at her small desk, "There are some scrolls on there," she stated before having to cover up another yawn. "Sue said they are for you."

Her eyes were only half way open, but she was able to see him move his head in the direction of the scroll to indicate he knew they were there. What they were meant for and why they were meant for him didn't interest him in the least, but he would decide to take them off her hands anyway. He got up in a quickly to put out what little fire was still burning.

Once the entire room was dark and well warmed he went back to kneel on one knee beside Rin to see that she was well settled for the night. "I must leave now," he mentioned firmly but softly. Her eyes were still halfway closed, but the disappointment was still showing. However she did her best to hide it and smile, "Please be careful."

He nodded in response and move a few strands of her dark brown hair out of her face, "I shall return by winter," he mentioned while making sure she was well tucked in.

"Thank you," she whispered with her mind nearly switched to sleep mode. Once he was pleased with his work he looked at her as if his eyes alone could tell her he wasn't entirely sure why she should be thanking him. "Thank you," she mumbled as her eyes drifted close to allow sleep to take over, "for everything."

His eyes warmed at the last of her words, and now he simply watched as her breathing went steady and mouth softly inhaling and exhaling. She was asleep.

His eyes closed and reopened to reveal his usual cold mask that he displays to the world. With a few silent steps to her small table to grab the scrolls claimed to now be his. He tucked them in his sleeves and gave Rin once last glance before turning to leave the hut. He knew he would be seeing the girl again very soon.

~~~o0o~~~

"Geez that bastard," the half demon mumbled while walking back to Miroku's to meet up with Kagome. Once he was finally able to remove that boulder he struggled to get back with his face showing his usual 'I hate everything' look, and his hand on his back to keep it from moving too much. Now all he wanted was some peace and quiet so he could get Kagome to give him a back massage.

Bare feet only made it a few miles until he noticed a dark figure perched above on Miroku's roof with silver hair almost similar to his flowing in the wind. Yellow golden eyes glared at ember golden eyes as the two dog brother had a hard stare down.

Sesshomaru glared at his brother feeling highly annoyed that he felt the need to do this, but all his other options seemed like a waste of his time. He knew what was contained inside that scroll the moment he looked at the first paper presented to him.

_A painting of his father. _

_It was a simple profile picture of his upper body that did well in presenting his hair color and the structure of his strong, prideful face. Sesshomaru found a lot of the other coloring to be completely off though as well as the wrong shape and color of his demon markings. The entire painting did not look exactly like the late dog general, and that gave Sesshomaru reason to believe that whoever did this painting knew little to nothing about his father._

_A lot of the other paper work simply had to do with much information that Sesshomaru himself already knew. Two sentences into the reading and he found the rest would be a waste of his time. Overall the scrolls were nothing new to him. It was a surprise, however, to see his father again when all he had to see him through before was his mind and memories. _

_The picture left him feeling an emotion he hadn't felt in a while. He felt as if his pride had swelled at the sight of the picture knowing this powerful creature was once and will forever be his sire, and his expectation rose in wanting to be everything this demon before him could not. _

_To be smarter, stronger, and possess power that would have left his father on his knees in fear. The relationship between father and son differs in the demon world compared to humans, but in another way it was very much the same. _

_Perhaps it was that side of him that found pure pride being the son to his father that allowed him to never disown tenseiga completely, and it was the rest of him that found pride in being who he is that created bakuseiga._

_He didn't feel the need to keep that portrait when he had all the pictures he needed of his father stored in his memories; memories that he knew no matter how hard he tried he would never forget._

_However, he also felt it a waste to throw the scrolls away…_

"Huh, what do you want? Here to throw more things at me-!"

Inuyasha couldn't believe that jerk ass brother of his had resorted to throwing things again. It made him wonder who exactly the elder one in the relationship was. He also never realized how much paper could hurt when thrown by a demon. "Jackass, what's this suppose to be?" Inuyasha asked while rubbing his little red bump.

"I have no use for it," Sesshomaru stated before jumping off the roof to fly off to his next destination.

"Inuyasha rubbed his head while watching his brother fly off to who knows where. In that time Kagome had left the hut with her face full of concern, "I'm sure I felt a weird presence just now."

"Ehh it's just Sesshomaru," the half demon mentioned as he looked at the scrolls that were thrown at him.

"Sesshomaru, what did he want?" she asked when she reached his side.

"I don't know, but the guy threw these at me so I guess he….."

"…Inuyasha, what is it?" Kagome saw the look in his widen to such an extent she wasn't sure if she has ever seen him so surprised. Once Kagome got a look her eyes grew large as well, "Inuyasha..is that?"

~~~o0o~~~

Brown eyes opened up to meet warm sun hitting her through her window, but chilly air flowing in through her doorway. That was not what happened to awaken her from her slumber though.

"Lord Sesshomaru," wailed Jaken as he paced back and forth to find his beloved master. "Oh Lord Sesshomaru you've left me again haven't you. HOW CAN YOU LEAVE YOUR FAITHFUL RETAINER HERE IN THIS-ACHOOO!"

Rin tried her best to ignore the imp, but the moment he sneezed she knew he was just going to complain more. With a sleepy grunt Rin brought her body up all the while wondering what happened last night that made her feel somewhat giddy this morning.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" she gasped with visions of the night before filling her head.

Once Jaken heard that name his eyes stated to sparkle with the utmost happiness, "Where is he I knew he wouldn't-Achoo-leave me!"

"Oh, sorry Master Jaken I was just speaking to myself."Rin held her hand to her mouth knowing she brought up the imp's hopes way to high, and now he was depressed again. Sure enough Jaken began to make a pool of mushy green goop out of himself, and was content just laying on the ground.

"Don't be so sad Master Jaken," she encouraged while patting his back. "Lord Sesshomaru will be back by winter he told me himself." _Then again for all I know that could have been a dream…._

"Winter, but that's days and days from now," the imp whined as he went back into his beetle position full of complaints and sneezes. And here Rin thought demons couldn't get sick. "Say, where's Ami?"

"That insolent girl is in the other room. It's all thanks to her I ended up in this-achoo-state. She refused to share any of the spare blankets last night. She said she would claim me as a pervert so I slept in the cold!"

"I'm sorry to hear that Master Jaken, if it makes you feel better you can sleep at the foot of my bed tonight," she assured with a comforting smile, but the whinny toad couldn't shake his babyish act. "Oh great now instead of a cold floor I've been promoted to sleeping on a bed with yo-ACHOO!"

Rin took a deep sigh and held in her patience. She was going to need a lot of it right now. Jaken and Ami both had the tendency to act like babies, and from now till winter it looks like Rin would have to do a lot of babysitting till Jaken returns with their lord and Ami leaved in the spring. That is if she still wanted to leave, which Rin would no longer mind persuading.

Then there was the matter of explaining to Kaede of the new house guest, but then again Ami may just prove to be a lot of help now that things are becoming crucial with food and Kaede's health. Maybe the girl can help with chores or aiding Kaede when she is in need of help. Suddenly the situation seemed a little bright, but Rin knew it was something she would have to see in due time.

"I'm going to fetch some water Master Jaken," she said to the crushed little imp as he mumbled an "ok" back. "Once I get back I'll make you some hot soup hot does that sound?"

Jaken's black slits took up the entire surface of his eyes leaving him looking pathetic but cute, "L-Like the kind you made last night?" he asked while chewing on his sleeve. Rin smiled as she patted his head, "Of course."

With that 'situation' taken care of Rin made her way outside to meet the cool morning air along with the leaved giving her a nice performing down the road. With a bucket in hand she made her way over to the river with her sights set on the water, but her mind set on somewhere else. _Was last night a dream? It all seemed so real I'm sure it wasn't. I slept in my kimono and…._

"Hey Rin," a familiar female voice called out.

"Huh, oh hey Kagome," she replied with a smile as her friend walked with a bucket in her hand as well. "I see were off getting the same thing," the young priestess stated as Rin nodded while looking around. "Inuyasha isn't with you?"

"No," she said, "He's still at Miroku and Sango rubbing his fingers over his eyes brows again."

Rin chuckled, "He's doing what?"

"That's all he says now is "I have his eyes brows, I have his eyebrows" It's cute to see him take such pride in looking like a little bit like his father," Kagome said with a happy smile.

"I-I'm afraid I don't follow…"

"Well Sesshomaru came by last night and dropped off a few scrolls to Inuyasha and-"

"Wait, Lord Sesshomaru dropped off scrolls," Rin repeated as she moved closer to Kagome with her voice getting louder. "Did he say where he got them from?"

"Uh…no you know how he is. He left right after and…Hey Rin where are you going?"

"I'll be back," she shouted while running right back into her hut with her sandaled foot stepping right on Jaken in the process, but she had yet to realize.

She scrambled to her desk to look over every square inch to make sure the scrolls were really gone. _There gone, Lord Sesshomaru must have been here…although maybe he just came to get them and left afterward. It's my fault for falling asleep last night, because now I'm awake but I can't tell if it was a dream or not…Lord Sess…ow_

The girl's thoughts broke when she looked at her hand to find that she was adding to much pressure when leaning her entire body against it. The same hand her lord wrapped only yesterday. Rin smiled at the nice memory of her lord wrapping the silk from his kimono over each one of her fingers and tying at all in a knot in the center of her pa….

Rin's eyes widened at the observation. The silk was now tied in a knot at the top of her hand; just as she remembered him doing the night before when he was inspecting her fingers.

"So that means…" she whispered.

Jaken groaned as he got up from his pain staked punishment of having Rin step on him, and she was no child anymore either. Once the imp was settled on his knees he yet again felt a sharp pain in his back as Rin accidentally stepped on him _again_ with her mind set somewhere else.

"Why," Jaken stated as he heard Rin hum to herself on the way out, "Why me…"

With a bucket in hand again Rin walked happily down the dirt road all the while filling her memories of the night before, and the sweet talks and moments she got to share with her lord. Now she couldn't wait to make more memories with him when he returned, but she also knew that night was going to be a night she would not soon forget.

With her mind set on seeing him again Rin kissed the spot on her hand where the knot was tied as she prepared herself to wait patiently for his return.

_Hurry back soon Lord Sesshomaru._

THE END

**AN: And there you have it the end to that story. I wondered at first if it was a lot to fit on the plate, but like I said I wanted to finish with a long chapter so I did it lol I wonder if many of you realize how easy it is to have Sesshomaru and Rin hold up a conversation. It's so fun to do when you think of Sesshomaru like things to say XD It was a joy making this story and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.**

**Now my winter fic is coming up soon. I truly wish I could have started on it earlier so I could have finished it by Christmas, but it looks like I will actually be posting it up on Christmas eve or so, but either way it is going up and I am looking very much forward to it. The lovebirds very first winter together and I am thinking of adding a moment that will top out all their moments shared so far so stay alert so you can see what I have in store for them.**

**Thanks so much for reading and if you would like to comment it would be appreciated. Till next time!**


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